Matt Damon on showing his kids a 'bigger world': 'Hopefully we'll build some empathy and compassion' (Exclusive)

Matt Damon and his wife, Luciana, are taking every effort to introduce their children to real life outside the Hollywood bubble.

"The way it started to happen for me is my mother took me, in my teenage years, to Mexico and Guatemala, all over these countries," Damon told AOL exclusively. "I just got to see a world that was bigger than the neighborhood I grew up in."

That early exposure to travel and culture provided a strong foundation for Damon's decade of work with Water.org, the nonprofit he co-founded with Gary White. (White's original organization was founded in 1990; he merged with Damon in 2009.)

"That's something my wife and I are able to do with our kids: Show them a bigger world and hopefully build some empathy and compassion, and some understanding for different perspectives and different ways of living," said Damon, a dad of four daughters. "Hopefully, that'll lead to continued empathy and compassion as they get older and start to engage with some of these issues in a real way."

Water.org's partnership with Stella Artois led to the "Pour it Forward" campaign: From now until March 31, every pour, bottle and pack purchased of Stella Artois will go toward ending the global water crisis. Stella Artois' goal with Water.org is to provide 3.5 million people with clean water by 2020.

Using the #PourItForward hashtag on social media will also boost funding, as will any purchase of Stella's limited-edition chalices.

For Damon and White, the goal is to introduce the public to an issue many don't realize even exists. 844 million people -- or 1 in 9 -- currently do not have access to clean drinking water.

"We're never more than a few steps away from a clean drink of water, so it's not very relatable for us," White said. "So just explaining the magnitude of this problem, and the fact that a million children are dying needlessly every year because of this, and lives are being destroyed -- that's really the first hurdle we have to clear."