An exhibit that has travelled around the globe urging nuclear disarmament will come to Windsor this week.

Entitled Transforming the Human Spirit, the exhibition has been shown in New York, Hawaii, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway, the Dominican Republic and other locales.

The exhibition was created in 2007 by the Buddhist-based organization Soka Gakkai International.

Enakshi Sinha, a representative of SGI in Windsor, said the exhibition consists of simple panels with images and words.

"One of the writings, if I could just say it to you, by Ralph Waldo Emerson -- he stated that peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding," Sinha said.

The exhibition calls for a world free of nuclear weapons.

SGI describes the message as one of hope, "with universal appeal and global public support."

Sinha said she doesn't consider nuclear war an out-of-date topic.

"It is a very important issue," she said.

"There are still so many countries, they think they are not powerful because they don't have nuclear weapons."

But Sinha said the exhibit does not name specific countries or delve into political details.

"It is a general issue," she said.

"Our motto is to bring peace to our lives and our surroundings. Any small way we can contribute to society, that is what we are doing."

Asked if it's naive to think an exhibition with such a soft message could have any impact on countries pursuing nuclear weapons programs, such as North Korea, Sinha repeated that the exhibition is just about raising awareness.

"It is not going against any countries. Every country has their shortcomings, good things and bad things," she said.

"Every country, every human being, every individual has all these things."

But Sinha agreed that the exhibition is idealistic.

"It is just to open up the eyes and the minds of human beings. It starts with a small thing."

OPENING TUESDAY

The nuclear disarmament exhibit From a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace: Transforming the Human Spirit can be seen Tuesday to Thursday at the central branch of the Windsor Public Library, 850 Ouellette Ave. The opening ceremony takes place at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and the closing ceremony, including remarks from MP Brian Masse (NDP -- Windsor West) takes place at 3 p.m. Thursday.