Today, there are now over 130,000 Character Day events (in universities, K-12 schools, companies, libraries, homes, and more) happening in 119 countries! It will be an amazing day of millions of perspectives and global thinking around one theme: the importance of developing character.

Character Day (4th annual this year) is a global event for people to screen films on the topic of science as it relates to character development. Events are happening in everything from K-12 school districts, to universities including UCBerkeley, Harvard, and MIT, to The U.S Airforce, to companies like Intel, to individual families across the country and world, all engaging in conversation about the importance of developing character (qualities like empathy, curiosity, grit, humility, bravery, social responsibility, and more). Participants review printed materials and resources for discussions linked globally online about their own character, who they are, who they would like to be, and how to develop these character strengths, based on evidence-based research.

Character Day was created in 2014 by Tiffany Shlain, the co-founder of the non-profit Let it Ripple: Mobile Films for Global Change, founder of the Webby Awards, and the co-founder of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, to launch a global premier of the short film The Science of Character, which explores the social science and neuroscience behind character development. Shlain and Let it Ripple produced Character Day, and invited schools and organizations around the world to premier the film and discuss its ideas about character development all on the same day via a simultaneous online video conversation. There were over 1500 events in 31 country on March 14, 2014. The State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs also selected The Science of Character to be part of their American Film Program.