The Bay Area Discovery Museum is a nationally recognized learning center for children, their families and educators. The Museum offers indoor and outdoor hands-on interactive art, media, environmental and science activities and exhibitions, theatre programs, cultural festivals, school programs, summer camps, and parenting workshops. Through these offerings, the Museum strives to achieve its mission: "to engage, delight and educate children through exploration of and connection with the local environment and the diverse communities that live here."

The Museum opened in 1987 in a small storefront space by a group of community leaders who envisioned a cultural institution for children based on a new model of inquiry-based learning, particularly for younger children ages 10 and below. Based on its great popularity in the early years, the need was evident for the creation of a major children's museum in the Bay Area. In 1991, the Museum moved to its current location at Fort Baker, occupying nine renovated army buildings.

Growth of a Treasured Bay Area Institution

Since 1991, the Museum's programs have continued to attract a growing audience reflected in annual attendance and membership increases, with commensurate budget and staff expansion leading to the opening of new facilities and planned program enhancements. In 2002, the Museum welcomed nearly 200,000 visitors on an annual budget of $3.1 million. In 2005 after the new entry pavilion, Lookout Cove, 180-seat theatre and expanded Tot Spot opened to the public, attendance jumped to over 270,000 with a $3.3 million budget.

In addition to the demonstrated demand for its current programs, the Bay Area Discovery Museum is responding through its expansion project to broader community needs for science and art education programs for young children, informal learning experiences for children and caregivers together, and an introduction to lifelong museum participation by families.