Continuum-MN was founded in 1979 by Hugh Harrison (with John Stout, Michael LaBrosse and Doug and Marcie Wallace), a philanthropist who bought the rights to, then brought to the Twin Cities, the Continuum Exhibit which he had seen on display at the JFK University in California. The Continuum Exhibit is an interdisciplinary cross-cultural exploration of the nature of human consciousness, its relationship to the physical world and to the physical body.
In its first year on display, the exhibit generated tremendous interest in the topic of "consciousness" and received many requests to provide additional programming. In response, in 1980 Continuum-MN (now operating as the ContinuumCenter) launched speakers in public forum, a partnership with the Dayton’s Corporation (now Macy’s).
In those early years the Continuum Center/Dayton’s joint venture hosted internationally known speakers Jehan el-Sadat (former First Lady of Egypt), Swiss psychiatrist Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death and Dying, Alex Haley, Roots, futurist Alvin Toffler, Future Shock and Third Wave, and astronaut Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon and founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Over the last 28 years, the ContinuumCenter has hosted physicists, physicians, brain scientists, educators, creativity experts, corporate leaders and cultural leaders recognized for pioneering work on the cutting-edge of a new paradigm.
In 1981 a national conference on Consciousness and Education was held in Minneapolis, co-sponsored by the Kettering Foundation and the Institute of Noetic Sciences. Following the conference, the ContinuumCenter, in partnership with the MN State Department of Education and the Hubert Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, developed the Whole Mind Learning Project. The two-year Whole Mind Learning Project launched in 1984 established another area of programming and we have continued our efforts to develop meaningful and results-oriented applications of consciousness research for business, medicine, education, corrections, community development and self development.
In 1988 we began acquiring the work of Edward S. Curtis, who, starting in 1898 spent thirty years traveling across the United States and into Canada and Alaska taking 40,000 photographs of 80 North American Indian tribes. His dedication led to an epic recording of the indigenous people of the North American continent. In addition to the strength and dignity that comes through these magnificent photographs, Curtis captured a culture and way of life infused with the understanding that consciousness is in all of life and that all things are interconnected. Much like the Continuum Exhibit before it, our exhibit of Edward Curtis photographs tours non-museum settings including corporations, hospitals, schools and other community centers.
In 1989-90 we developed Discovery of Self (DoS), a curriculum which added a conceptual framework to the internal resource development focus of the Whole Mind Learning Project. Together, the concepts and internal strategies create a powerful and provocative program for full capacity living. DoS was piloted in 1991 in the most challenging of settings: a junior/senior high school for the most seriously emotionally and behaviorally disordered youth. We quickly followed with programs at another school for E/BD youth and a maximum security prison.
In 1995, our board, excited by the potential of Discovery of Self, decided to concentrate Continuum's resources on further developing this program. Since 1995, we have developed various applications of the Discovery of Self curriculum, for audiences ranging from troubled youth and homeless adults to corporate executives and medical professionals.
With the exception of a few Edward Curtis exhibitions, the six years from 1995-2001 were focused on the further development of Discovery of Self and its track record. The impact and results - in some cases over the course of ten years - have positioned Discovery of Self to provide the foundation necessary to reactivate our suspended programs and expand our outreach.
Since 2001, we have expanded our speakers' programs, our training programs and have opened a unique gallery, event center and office space. Please give us a call and/or come by for a visit.