| The Touchstone Center for Children is a nonprofit educational organization founded in New York City in 1969 by its present director, Richard Lewis. The Center was established in the belief that all persons have natural creative, imaginative and artistic capacities, which when encouraged and allowed to develop, find unique expression in each individual.Through its Arts and Educationprojects, the Center creates interdisciplinary arts programs in classrooms that explore the role of the imagination and poetic thought, particularly in relation to the natural world, as pivotal to all learning.In addition, the Center conducts Workshops and Seminars for adults on the role of the imagination, the play of imagining within the learning process, and how at all levels of education, the use of elemental themes and images based on natural phenomena can strengthen and awaken our human relationship to the natural world.The Center’s Publications Programhas been concerned with documenting and reflecting upon the imaginative efforts of children and adults who have participated in the Center’s activities, as well as publishing original books of poetry and myth and bringing existing books back into print, from a wide spectrum of cultures.The Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble is the Center’s ongoing theatre company dedicated to exploring for and with children and their families, the themes and images of the natural world in relation to the imagination, through the integration of poetry, myth and stories.The Archival Project, as part of the Center’s publishing program, is an extensive collection of original children’s writings and artwork – as well as audio and video tapes, photographs and documents related to the history, philosophy and work of the Center since its founding in 1969. The Archival Project also maintains an Overview of Activities of The Touchstone Center from 1969-2012, as well as a list of the Center’s Sources of Funding and Support. Biographical information about present and recent participating staff members of the Center is included in Staff of the Center.
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