The National Center for Civil and Human Rights at 100 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard NW has spent 2026 opening doors - two of them, in fact, aimed at very different visitors.
The first opened April 25, 2026: Change Agent Adventure: Children's Gallery, an immersive space designed for children 12 and under. The Center describes it as a 'secret headquarters' where young changemakers 'step into action,' a hands-on counterpoint to the Center's more solemn permanent galleries on the American civil rights movement and global human rights. Opening-day reservations filled quickly, according to the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District's Downtown Navigator newsletter, which promoted the launch in its mid-April edition.
The second opened June 20, 2026, as the FIFA World Cup arrived in Atlanta. The People's Game: Soccer and Human Rights is a temporary exhibition that will remain on view through June 2027, well after the last match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
'Soccer, on its own, does not change the world,' the Center wrote in announcing the show. 'But the people who play it can - and do.' Through immersive experiences, original artifacts, personal stories, and a hands-on foosball activity built around teamwork, the exhibition traces how the world's most popular sport has been used to challenge injustice, inequality, racism, exclusion, and human rights abuses around the globe - and how athletes, teams, and fans have turned the game into what the Center calls 'a global force for courage, resilience, and change.'
For downtown, the pairing matters beyond the museum walls. The Center sits at the center of the Centennial Olympic Park district, between the Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola, and the two openings give families a reason to plan a full day in the district rather than a single stop. The children's gallery is a permanent addition; the soccer exhibition is a yearlong one, with the Center listing daily admission before 4 p.m.
The Center also marked the year with a free admission day on January 17, 2026, sponsored by FedEx, in the lead-up to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Source: Downtown Navigator, June 17, 2026 (Downtown Atlanta Inc.), published June 17, 2026.
