The playgrounds and toys are for children of all ages. It is for children and adults who want to play," said Adelina Cuber von Furstenberg, president and founder for Art for the World.

The exhibit shows models of toys and playgrounds designed by internationally-renound artists and architects. The travelling exhibition was conceived by von Furstenberg last year and the first exhibit was held in Geneva on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Von Furstenburg does admit that before refugee children can be given a chance to play they must receive basic relief such as food and shelter. This project is aimed for children "on the path to recovery" from the trauma they may have experienced.

Art for the World, the organizer of the exhibition, is a non-profit organization based in Geneva. It was founded in 1995 at the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. It's mission is to engage artists from all continents to use art as a tool for peace building and healing the human spirit.

Andreas Angelidakis, an architect, found the project very interesting when von Furstenberg approached him to design a model. "I had to basically go back to my childhood," said Angelidakis. His model is a 21-foot pillow that is filled with smaller pillows. He says that his idea is not to have a specific game but to let the children use their own imagination. While designing, he was aware of the constraints that his creativity might face. "It could not be complicated. It had to be something they could make almost anywhere in the world," he said of his model. For he said he kept his piece simple and it can be manufactured with materials that are not expensive.

The same is the case for most of the models on display. Von Furstenberg said the playgrounds and toys are not technologically advanced or expensive, but she assured that they conform to the highest safety standards.

Funding for the exhibition comes from various sources ranging from private citizens, corporations and other organization. When asked if fund raising was easy, von Furstenberg said it depended. There are times when donors fund one exhibition and sometimes they fund more than one.

The exhibition was to be open to the public however following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center last week, the UN is closed to tourists. It is currently on display for UN officials, nongovernmental organizations and the media. The organizers are hoping that it will reopen to the public soon. In November they plan to have a jury of children from schools around New York to select a model. This model will be build to scale and presented to a region with refugee children.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, World for Art plans to present a playground to the children of New York City to heal the emotional scares they might have developed after the attack. The location of this playground has not been decided yet, but von Furstenberg said they hoped it would be located near to where the World Trade Center Towers used to stand.