BRIDGTON – Through art and dialogue, a Bridgton man is hoping to spread peace.

Stephen Oliver, who will be at the Craft and Wares Fair in Bethel on Friday, moved to the area in 2005. That year, he established the Affinity Arts retreat and study center in an old mill building on Kansas Road.

“The idea is to launch art and design projects that make a difference in the world,” Oliver said of the arts center.

Oliver said that in researching historical peace movements, he found that the efforts were too fragmented to create real progress. He hoped to create a nonconfrontational way to encourage peace, and launched Make It Right in 2007.

The symbol of the movement is a peace symbol tilted slightly to one side, with an arrow. The design was first presented at the Portland Peace Festival, and this year Oliver started printing it on T-shirts.

“The first goal was just to encourage discussion and to build awareness of peace,” Oliver said. “I think it’s deliberately very open, because I think that people only assume that peace is the antithesis of war when there are so many aspects of it that it’s worthwhile to broaden the definition so everyone can see their part in it.”

Oliver has since expanded the design from the colorful shirts to include bumper stickers, hats and cards that encourage people to “use peace as currency.”

Oliver said that while Make It Right started as a graphic idea, the potential for a more social movement presented itself when he took the products on the road. He found himself engaged in conversations with people of all ages on topics ranging from the environment to the peace movements of the 1960s.

In addition, Oliver finds that the symbol encourages dialogue in his day-to-day activities at the supermarket, cafe or other areas.

“Ninety-nine point nine percent of the people have been really positive, which is great,” he said. “It says a lot about the potential.”

Oliver is also hoping to expand the project to address different issues in the world and use the symbol to demonstrate the solidarity between people.

Oliver is in the process of establishing his own press to make the shirts as well as building a Web site. He has collaborated with local artists and musicians to create related projects. Oliver hopes that in growing the movement, he will be able to raise funds for local causes, such as the Pondicherry Park project in Bridgton, as well as international causes, such as peace in Sudan.

“I kind of thought of this as a campaign without a candidate,” Oliver said. “It wasn’t something for any particular party, it was for the people.”