Many of her students do not have the time or money for regular school because they have to work to support their families.

"So I have a lot of 12-year-olds that work," she said. "They work on a construction site; they mix cement; they carry buckets; they clean up. Some of them work in noodle shops, maybe from like a street stall, from 5:00 p.m. till 2:00 in the morning. So they can't go to school at 7:00 in the morning."

Nesser says that in the last few years, her school, Thai Freedom House, has taught about 200 children English, Thai and art. The school also teaches the Shan language because most students did not receive a good education in Burma.

Nesser also arranges for craft makers to teach the children how to make things they can sell to help support their families.

"They don't have a country," said Nesser. "They don't have their family structure here to support them. But if you can give them education and language and ways to express themselves, which is why we focus on the arts, that gives them another kind of freedom that otherwise they wouldn't have."

Fourteen-year-old Nam Gao says that when she moved to Thailand three years ago, her parents tried to enroll her in a Thai school. But because she does not have a birth certificate, she was rejected.

"I want to say, 'Thank you,' to the teachers [at Thai Freedom House]," said Nam Gao. "If there was no home like this, I would have no place to go to continue my education. Thank you for Freedom House."