To change the world, we begin by enriching young people's self-identity.
We have 27 years of experience in students' identity development using a two-phased approach for a holistic identity.
Lower SES students need help because their creative development faces a roadblock—the "4th-grade slump" in creativity discovered by E. Paul Torrance, a pioneer in creativity research. Our free-of-charge school art program, the Arts Olympiad, inspires students to embrace the "Artist-Athlete Ideal" of the creative mind and healthy body (mente sana in corpo sano). Creativity enables underprivileged youth to blaze new trails that can disrupt the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty. The Arts Olympiad has grown since 1997 into the world's largest school art program.
Empathic development faces not one but two roadblocks: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are a root cause for nonsocial behavior, while the transgenerational transmission of trauma and hatred precast social divisions, pitting one group against another. The World Children's Festival we produce at the National Mall across the U.S. Capitol becomes such a positive, life-changing experience that it could overpower ACEs. The festival's global community setting empowers students to disrupt the transgenerational transmission of trauma and hatred. Through educational workshops, art activities, and empathy training, the festival infuses students' creativity with empathy so they become "creative-empaths" who can work together for a more peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future.
You can help us help children transform our wounded world into a wondrous one.
