In instances where I've wanted to give an FTP user access to a folder above the /home/AccountName/public_html directory, here's what I've done ...
1) Create a new FTP Account via the FTP Manager
2) Initially accept the default directory the system wants to create (which is under /public_html)
3) SSH into the server and edit the file /etc/proftpd/accountname. The files are stored under /etc/proftpd even if you are using pure-ftpd on the server (at least on my system).
4) In this file you'll find an entry for the new FTP Account you created in #1. Carefully edit the directory and point it to where you want.
As rhenderson indicated you could run into permission problems depending on your objectives. Either way, knowing how to create an FTP account / user outside of the www directory may be useful down the road.