He was born in Calgary, Alberta and spent the majority of his youth in Omaha, Nebraska. He lived in Lincoln, Nebraska, Tacoma, Washington, and Taos, New Mexico before graduating from The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
Adam has worked extensively with children and youth as an ally, educator, and advocate. Today he is the founder of The Freechild Project, an international organization dedicating to growing democracy through youth engagement. He has authored several articles on youth empowerment and civic engagement, as well as booklets on youth power and team building. He is currently writing a book on youth rights with Alex Koroknay-Palicz of www.youthrights.org.
He is also the developer of http://www.SoundOut.org, a website promoting meaningful student involvement in school change. The site focuses on student-led school change, as well as systemic student involvement in school governance, teaching, education research, and school evaluation.