ABOUT CMSD > HISTORY

Incorporated in 1981, the Children’s Museum San Diego opened its first facility in La Jolla Village Square in 1983. Within three years, the Museum had become so popular that USA Today listed it among the “Top 10 Children’s Museums in the Country.” Ten years later in 1993, the Museum received a downtown city block and warehouse from David Engel and moved into the heart of San Diego’s revitalization district. Here, under the guidance of Director of Robert Sain, the Museum established its learning through the arts mission and gained national attention with a 1997 Leadership in the New Millennium grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. These artists include Chris Burden, Jean Lowe, James Luna, Dennis Oppenhiem, Faith Ringgold and Ernest Silva.

In 1998, the Museum established a public charter school, the Museum School through the San Diego Unified School District. Currently eighty students, from grades three through six, are enrolled. They come from highly diverse ethnic, racial, economic and academic backgrounds. The Museum School has been recognized as “One of the Best Elementary Schools in America” by Dr. Wayne Jennings, a leading national charter school authority. The school’s 2004 Academic Performance Index is 825, which is 114 and 132 points above the district and state averages, respectively.

In 1999, Kay Wagner became Executive Director and began the innovative redevelopment plan that would ultimately provide for the construction of a new facility designed by Rob Wellington Quigley. The new building will have 50,000 square feet, doubling previous public space, allowing the Museum to serve over 200,000 visitors annually.