The time capsule

During the summer holidays organized by the Cavazza Institute’s Educational Consulting Service in collaboration with I.Ri.Fo.R. of Emilia Romagna (with 30 visually-impaired children and teens, a week away from home, in the spirit of fun, self-reliance, and socialization), time is always devoted to self-reflection and one’s emotions in what we call “expressive laboratories.”

The name stays the same, but the program changes every year to offer the young participants a new and stimulating experience. During each week of summer camp, at least two mornings or afternoons are reserved for shared “work” on emotions, because we strongly believe that the “journey of self-reliance” is both outside oneself and within oneself. We’re convinced that encouraging expressiveness, creativity, emotional awareness, and socialization are essential goals for becoming “grown-ups,” and that these are preparatory for all subsequent work on self-reliance: the more these skills are sustained by awareness of oneself and of one’s needs, the more they are strengthened.

Therefore, in the expressive laboratories of summer 2025, we guided the participants on a journey to discover their own emotions as well as those of others, assisted by readings, scenes from films, and dramatizations.

Using the metaphor of a train, we led the children and teens on an inner journey: from their past (sharing memories with the group), arriving in the present (trying to focus on each one’s strong and weak points), and then looking toward the future, imagining themselves as adults. With the youngest children, we also read from an illustrated children’s book, leading them on a fun journey among all of life’s possibilities, then inviting them to play with their imagination on the theme of becoming grown-ups. With the teens, we used the film shown on movie night, Rob Reiner’s “Stand by me,” in the expressive laboratory as food for thought on some important aspects of the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Specific and different activities were proposed depending on the age of each group, but the final goal was the same: the creation of a time capsule – a container designed to conserve objects or messages intended to be found and opened at a specific time in the future. It’s a way to speak to those who will come after us. In our case, the time capsule was a container of mementos of the vacation and, at the same time, a way to speak to one’s larger self. All of the participants took their time capsule home, sealed, in which they had placed some mementos of the summer camp (a writing, a drawing, a Polaroid taken with friends). Since they are all visually impaired, we also left them an audio memento: a personal QR code created and printed for each. In a few years, when they open the time capsule, their QR code will let them hear their “little” voice, an audio recording that each made in complete privacy to leave a message for their future self.

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