You create your own world.

Welcome to The Universe Within—an immersive world-building experience that connects you to the vast universe inside and around you.

We are an in-person program and online destination that has lots of activities to help you imagine, invent, make and share your original world-building creations with others!

Learn more!

Increased Creativity

Students who’ve taken the program told us that they now have greater confidence in their creative abilities, increased knowledge of math, technology science, and engineering and better presentation skills.

Self-guided lessons

Three 40-hour units use hands-on doodling and simple techniques to help you design and construct signs, tools, machines and accessories that represent your character and features of your world.

STEAM learning

Activities meet Science, Math, Engineering, Visual Arts, Theater, and English Language Arts standards. You’ll learn scientific observation, physics, geometry and engineering by making functional sculptures and kinetic art!

Playing the role of world-builder, you’ll develop your superhero character, design features of your world, and invent unique gadgets and tools from cardboard.

Students On: Headgear of Heroes

“The Universe Within has been so much fun and it taught me to be in touch with my creative side. There was so much crafting—building and making artifacts with my hands—and recording our ideas in The Daily Doodle. My headdress and tools were artifacts for my character. I made them look really old and like they were moving and flowing in water. The opening videos helped me get ready for all the activities.”

Students On: The Art of Kinetics

“The Universe Within taught me and my friends about Newton’s Laws of Motion, what a sundial is and how to use my creativity for different things. I liked that I got to make and name my own planet. I got to decide how many days are in my planet’s year and I made a sundial to see shadows move through time. The camp taught me about time, different types of energy and physics. I have a creative genius inside and so do you!”

Students On: The Power of Electricity

“The Universe Within is a fun and creative way to learn about science. It has been so amazing to learn about electricity and how it works. I had to come up with my own city and build it with lights, sounds and motors. I got to decide what sources to harvest electricity from to power my community. I made circuits, both parallel and series as part of building my sustainable city on my planet. The Universe Within has inspired me to use the stuff I have learned in real life.”