The main focus of CAEP is to promote friendship and understanding between the children of U.S. and China through mutual interest in art and concern for the environment. 

Magic Moments Fellowship  - 2012

Applications, due April 10, are being accepted for two summer teaching/traveling fellowships.

One fellowship (June 10-28) offers the fellow a chance to tour several beautiful cities in China like Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu. While touring the fellow will interact with other educators, gain a solid understanding of how to bring students to China, as well as visit several youth community service projects.

The second fellowship (July - August 1) offers a month long teaching opportunity as a member of the ABC Youth Community service program in the Jiangsu Province, China. This program offers hands-on professional development in global education while forging long lasting relationships between the fellow and the program participants in China.

Complete information about these fellowships can be found at http://e-planet.org/magicmoments.html. 

Jazz Workshop - 2011

In 2010, Jazz composer and pianist Mr. Jon Jang and 1990 Insitute director Margaret Booker conducted auditions at CNCC (China National Childrens Center), in preparation for 2011's "Beijing Jazz Workshop" - a workshop where U.S. and young Chinese jazz musicans will work together to create new music based on Chinese and American folk songs, with a final performance for the Beijing public.

The Beijing Jazz Workshop, conducted in August 2011 was a resounding success.  Two additional young but established jazz musicians and brothers  Pascal and Remy LeBoeuf, joined Jang as teachers for the workshop.  The final concert had over 500 in the audience.  Read more, and see pictures....

Group Murual Painting - 2011

Two mural painting events took place at the Childrens Center in 2011.  Read more, and see pictures....

             * * * * History of On-going Activities * * * *

Group Mural Painting
In 2007, the Institute invited Susan Cervantes (Founder of Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center in San Francisco) to conduct her "all inclusive group mural design process" with a number of U.S. artists and 100+ Chinese students from Beijing, Shanghai, Tienjing, and Hangzhou. That event led to CNCC asking the Institute to help CNCC become a world-wide children's mural painting center.

In June of 2008, the CNCC International Children's Mural Park was officially launched.  Since then, the Internaional Mural Painting festival has taken place every year in May.  Go to http://e-planet.org/oceanbottom.html to see the results of the 2011 festival.

In April 2009, Susan Cervantes was again invited  to Beijing to lead a workshop on group mural design and painting with Chinese art teachers.

Connecting Chinese and American Students
Since 2007, the Institute has funded the China National Children's Center (CNCC) in Beijing to serve as a clearinghouse for Chinese schools that are interested in conducting joint activities with visiting students from the U.S. U.S. schools that are interested in having their students participate in joint activities with Chinese students, can contact CNCC (or through The 1990 Institute) to find appropriate matches.

Connecting Green Schools
The Institute is continuing its effort in environment education. In July 2008, we sponsored the trip by Taylor Francis (then a 16-year old student trained by Vice President Al Gore) to give talks on climate change to students in Beijing and Shanghai.

In February 2009, the Institute was able to bring a delegation of 11 students selected by the China Green School Forum to a Washington DC "Power Shift 2009" conference organized by the Energy Action Coalition.

Past Activities

The environment part of CAEP started in 1997, when The 1990 Institute partnered with the U.C. Berkeley's School of Environment Design to seek funds from the Asia Development Bank for studying how environment protection should be coupled with Economic Development in China.

In the spring of 2000, we conducted a U.S./China forum on "Women, Leadership, and Sustainability" in San Francisco. Mme. Gu Xiulian, then head of the All China Women’s Federation (ACWF), led a delegation to meet with U.S. environmental movement experts. The delegation was also taken to visit the Lake Tahoe Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy at Maui, Hawaii.

During 2001-2002, the Institute conducted a nation-wide Children's Art Competition on the Environment in China. One million plus children participated. Between 2003-2005, about 100 drawings from the competition were brought to the U.S. and exhibited in museums, libraries, and culture centers throughout the U.S. Key venues included the Capital Children's Museum in Washington DC, the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Dallas Children's Museum, Zeum Museum in San Francisco, etc.

In 2004, the Institute sponsored a joint US-China mural painting festival at the China National Children's Center (CNCC) in Beijing with students from the Hillview Middle School in Menlo Park, CA and local Chinese children. A second group of junior high school students, from the Odyssey School in San Mateo, CA, visited various schools in China and won an award for their demountable "Tree of Hope" sculpture at the Environmental Science and Art Exhibit in Shanghai. In 2005, the Institute invited 18 young artists (aged 7 to 16) and their teachers from CNCC to California to paint the natural beauties of California and to participate in joint art projects with local children.

 2/29/2012