Simonetta Cittadini

I grew up between continents. Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Switzerland, Italy, the United States. I went to French schools, which is where the word "atelier" became part of my vocabulary before I even understood what it would one day mean. I studied philosophy in Torino, psychology in Miami, and art everywhere I could. I never finished a single formal degree by design. I composed my education across 35 years, deliberately, because I believed a great educator had to understand the world more broadly than any one discipline allows. I founded L'Atelier in the early 1990s. It started as a workshop, one child, one hour a week. His name was Fernandito. Four months of practice built my theory. The school opened formally in 1997, and it has never stopped growing in depth, even as it has stayed...