A BRIEF HISTORY OF
THE BELLE AME DREAM
A message from Marlene Peterson, founder and president of Belle Ame Center for Artful Living
The Belle Âme dream began the way most meaningful journeys begin—with a quiet restlessness and a longing for something more.
Years ago, I sensed that something essential was missing in education. In searching for answers, I discovered the writings of a remarkable group of educators from a century ago—men and women I now affectionately call my Heart Educator friends. From them, I learned what it means to cultivate a Well-Educated Heart (WEH).
While our schools tend to focus on training the mind, what we desperately need is to pay attention to the heart.
What has slowly disappeared from education (and from daily life) are the Arts: Music, Visual Art, Poetry, and Story. The Arts are not extras. They civilize us. They refine us. They awaken us. The Arts are the languages the Heart understands.​
The First Seeds
Out of this discovery grew Libraries of Hope—a place to share the treasures I was uncovering for nurturing hearts at home.
The Forgotten Classics Family Library, now more than 250 volumes strong, gathers stories from the Heart Educators and other noble voices of the past, carefully restored and brought back into print to inspire today’s children.
To help families live these ideas in a practical way, resources were organized around a 12-month rotation—a layered approach to learning about the whole world and everything in it. ​
A Gathering of Mothers
As I began sharing these principles, something beautiful happened.
Hearts softened. Homes changed. Conversations deepened.
Mothers from around the world began gathering together. We called ourselves Mothers of Influence (MOI) because we realized that the quiet influence of a mother shapes the future more powerfully than we often recognize.
These circles grew into a thriving community with live discussions, guest teachers, and courses like Catch the Vision and Mother’s University, where women learn not only what a Well-Educated Heart is, but how to live it.​
Expanding the Vision
As our community grew, I began to see the need for a physical home—a gathering place dedicated to artful living. Inspired by the folk school movement in Denmark and the vision of Nikolai Grundtvig, we acquired 160 acres in the heart of Missouri. There, we are building the Belle Ame Center for Artful Living Campus.
Belle Âme means “beautiful soul.”
And that is the reason behind everything we do.
We believe the world is changed not merely by better systems, but by more beautiful souls.
Belle Ame at Home
The campus is being built by the very families who will gather there. In the online Belle Ame Community, contributing families receive access to virtual instruction in:
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Music
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Storytelling
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Drawing & Painting
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Sewing, Knitting & Handcrafts
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Creative, hands-on arts
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And more!
These practices help our children slow down, pay attention, and engage with what is real in an increasingly artificial world. We are learning to fall in love with the world again—by noticing it.
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The funds generated through this growing family community directly support the development of the campus, with the hope that the Spirit of Belle Ame will eventually reach neighborhoods and communities everywhere.
By Small and Simple Means
This is the story of the Belle Ame dream.
It began with one restless heart searching for something better. It grew into books, art, study circles, land, and living communities. And it continues to expand—one home, one mother, one child at a time.
We believe that by small and simple means, great things will come to pass.
We are building a more beautiful world by cultivating beautiful souls.