Carried out by the Mirror Art Group (an organization within the Kamol Keem Tong Foundation), the Hilltribe Virtual Museum Project aims to preserve and educate the world about the rapidly vanishing languages and cultures of the tribal peoples living in northern Thailand. The Ban Jalae Hilltribe Life and Culture Center was created in order that people drawn by the Virtual Museum and visitors passing through the area will have an orientation for deeper and more meaningful explorations of tribal culture, as well as to address the dual problems of cultural erosion and lack of sustainable sources of income near the village.

Located in a traditional Laba Lahu village twenty-two kilometers from the city of Chiang Rai province (Thailand), this multi-media center powered by solar energy combines displays about traditional Lahu culture, handicrafts and know-how with video presentations that show the deep and intricate cultures of the tribal peoples in and around Ban Jalae.

The Center is very much a community endeavor. All artifacts in the Center come from Ban Jalae and surrounding Akha and Lahu communities, with each home in Ban Jalae donating at least one item. The community also invested six months of labor to construct the four adobe buildings that comprise the Center. The villagers of Ban Jalae have made this investment so that they may not only share their culture with guests to the village, but in hopes that the Center will rekindle among hilltribe youth throughout Thailand an interest in tribal culture that has waned over the past generation. The Center was officially opened on April 10, 2004. (For more information on the Hilltribe Virtual Museum, please visit its website at http://www.hilltribe.org.)