D ear Peace, CFA’s video documentary on its Peace Camp project, had a special showing at the 1st Asian Children's Museum Conference, which was held in Manila on February 23-26, 2008. Organized by the Museo Pambata, the conference focused on the theme “Children's Museums as Bridges of Peace”.

Attended by more than a hundred participants from different countries as well as from various Philippine provinces, the conference discussed ways in which children's museums can be venues for peace education. CFA’s “Dear Peace” video, which captured the process of building friendship and understanding between young Christian and Muslim students at a Peace Camp, served as a creative example of how children’s interest and skills can be harnessed for peace-making.

A resource speaker from Thailand approached the team after the presentation and requested a DVD copy of “Dear Peace”, commenting, “We have the same problem in Thailand and your video will help us a lot.” Curators of museums from the Netherlands and Israel also wanted to show the video in their countries, saying that the documentary would be helpful in discussions of cross-cultural relations. Several Filipino educators, students and NGO leaders commended the project and asked if CFA can also organize a peace camp in their areas.

The conference featured presentations by museum heads from Europe and Asia on creative educational activities for kids, including shadowplay, paintings, and storytelling, among others.  The conference also posed a challenge to the participants on how to bring people, not just kids, to the museums and take advantage of opportunities for developing critical thinking and effective communication.