Vision

The vision of the International Child Art Foundation is to create a world that nurtures children’s innate creativity, fosters their intrinsic empathy, and includes children’s voices in any deliberation on the future. ICAF is a pioneer in creating public awareness about children’s creative and empathic development and an effective advocate for the rights of children to be creative and empathic. Towards this end, ICAF organizes the Arts Olympiad globally, hosts the World Children’s Festival every four years, publishes the ChildArt magazine quarterly, launches Peace through Art Programs and Healing Arts Programs occasionally, and arranges art exhibitions internationally.

Neuroscientific research has shown that creative process involves both sides of the brain. New research is furthering an understanding of how creativity and empathy as key attributes of successful learners and leaders. ICAF employs the power of children’s art, both painting and digital, to nurture children’s innate creativity and intrinsic empathy. Interrelationships between art + technology, art + sport, art + science, and art + peace are revealed to develop the whole child for the 21st century.

ICAF is all about elevation of children’s artistic expressions and their voices. ICAF advocates that every contemporary art museum dedicate one room to the living art of children; that at least one percent of available wall space in corporate offices be devoted to children’s art; that every city must be a city of children where their concerns are mobilized and addressed; and that any deliberation on the future – be it a local, national or global platform – include the voices and concerns of children.

As a result of its innovative global programs and dedication to the next generation, ICAF serves as a trusted intermediary between networks of creative professionals and the world of creative children.

“What you are doing reflects such a refreshingly integrated view of children's development -- a much-needed perspective in a time when children's growth and learning often seem to be approached in a very reductionistic, fragmented way.” - Dr. Martha Farrell Erickson, Director of Center for Early Education & Development, and Co-Chair of President's Academic Initiative on Children, Youth & Families, University of Minnesota (December 8, 2007)