Many of us believe that something happens at the dawn of adolescence besides -- and perhaps because of -- physiological puberty. Suddenly, the developing human is aware of the much wider world, and often finds wonder, excitement, awe in what she or he begins experiencing.

I refer to this as the "spark" of adolescence. It can be, and often is, aided by wise older people, and also can be frustrated by other adults and/or kids.

In my view, this "spark" needs to be encouraged and valued, and one must never let it be extinguished (if I may continue the metaphor). Losing the "spark", some say, is what makes people into adults. And, according to a plaque on the living room wall of a late friend, "An adult is just a dead child."
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Alice in Wonderland (novel, 1865)
  Or, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as its author Lewis Carroll [Rev. Charles 
  Lutwidge Dodgson](1832-1898) originally named it. Alice is a girl in late
  childhood (or early adolescence), who is sitting on the river-bank, bored enough
  to imagine (?) a talking, clothed white rabbit nearby. She follows it down a
  rabbit-hole, and what follows will amaze you. (This story, and Carroll's other
  "Alice" tales, are so well-known that no further synopsis should be
  necessary to qualify it for inclusion in this list.)

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The Box of Delights (TV mini-series, 1984)
  It is 1934, and Kay Harker gets re-routed (so to speak) while changing trains on
  his way home from school for Christmas. He hooks up with Cole Hawlings, an old
  puppeteer, who is the custodian of the elixir of life, as well as the Box of
  Delights. Adventure ensues. The original story by John Masefield (1878-1967) was
  first published in 1935.

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Citizen Kane (film, 1941)
  At the beginning of the film, main character Charles Foster Kane's dying word is
  "Rosebud".  It is only at the very end that we learn (without entering 
  the "spoiler" here) that the word referred to Kane's childhood which he, 
  apparently, never forgot about.

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"Colonel Stonesteel and the 'Desperate Empties'" (TV short, 
    24 January 1992, episode of The Ray Bradbury Theatre 
    [HBO, 1985-1988; USA Network, 1988-1992], story and teleplay by Ray Bradbury [1920-2012])

  Charlie (Shawn Ashmore) is bored in his small town of Greentown, Upper Illinois.
  He goes to visit Colonel Stonesteel (Harold Gould), an old man who is full of 
  ideas and life.  After a series of exciting events, Charlie decides to spend 
  his life avoiding boredom -- he becomes a writer.

  In the opening scene, Stonesteel sees Charlie is troubled.
    Stonesteel: Son, you look as if your best friend left and your dog died.
      What's wrong?
    Charlie: Nothing ever happens around here.
    Stonesteel: How old are you, Charlie?  
    Charlie: Thirteen, almost.
    Stonesteel: Thirteen.  Well, things do tend to run down come thirteen.
      Come to a dead halt when you're fourteen.  Might as well die when you're 
      fifteen. Meanwhile, Charlie, what do we do to survive 'til noon this very 
      day? . . . Small boys and autumn weekends are a bad case of the 'desperate 
      empties'. . . . Oh, child, life is a magic show.  At least it could be if 
      people didn't go to sleep on each other.  
    Charlie: Colonel, what if, even when I get old . . . I have a life 
      where I'm never bored. I find out what I want to do, and do it. Make every 
      day and every night count.  Wake up laughing and grow old still runnin' fast.
      Then what?  
    Stonesteel: Well then, son, you'll be one of God's luckiest people.

  The show ends in a "flash forward", with writer Charles Flagstaff finishing the 
  story of "Colonel Stonesteel and the 'Desperate Empties'" when a young teen boy 
  calls to him from in front of the house, just as Charlie himself had done at
  Colonel Stonesteel's house years earlier.

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Fanny och Alexander [Fanny and Alexander] (film, 1982)
  After a long career characterised by gloomy symbolism and the portrayal of very,
  very few children as central characters, Ingmar Bergman decided to offer the
  world a very different vision as his farewell to theatrical films. (He went on
  to live another 25 years, making television films and, primarily, directing
  theatre productions in Sweden.) Fanny och Alexander is, according to most
  commentary distributed with the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray release of the
  film, firmly rooted in Bergman's own childhood. He wrote the story and script
  himself, choosing 10-year-old Alexander Ekdahl (Bertil Guve) as his central
  character. From the very opening scenes, we see how Alexander views the world,
  a reality that centers on brightly coloured puppet theatre and wandering through
  the rooms of his grandmother's apartment, drinking in the richly decorated
  ambience. Bergman also offers the world a very clear exposition of just how
  that exploration and wonder begins to be regulated and suppressed in the name
  of decorum and submission to authority. Alexander has a vivid imagination, and
  before long we see the local clergyman confronting him, characterising his
  imaginative storytelling as lies. (Bergman's own father was a clergyman whose
  punishments and restrictions on his children's behaviour often seemed to 
  the boy Bergman to be unnecessarily severe.) The bishop makes it clear that 
  Alexander must renounce the practice of telling lies, and apologise to his 
  mother. This confrontation pales in comparison to a similar one later in the 
  film, after Alexander's mother has decided to marry the bishop, making him the 
  boy's stepfather. Alexander's resistance to authority now goes to a very different
  level, with near-disastrous consequences.

  We might be tempted to believe that, if this story is essentially Bergman's own, 
  as most have said, and Bergman himself has indicated, the repression enacted by
  the bishop (or Bergman's father) coupled with the dark, desolate, depressing
  views of most of the films in his adult career, are evidence that Bergman lost
  the wonder, the "spark" of his childhood. But then, would he, in his
  sixties, have been able to produce such vivid evidence of that wonder, that
  "spark", in the imagination and fantasy life of the boy Alexander? 

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Last Night at the Viper Room: River Phoenix and the Hollywood He Left Behind
  (by Gavin Edwards. New York: It Books/HarperCollins, 2013). In an interview on 
  television, the author of this book was asked about the reactions of people he 
  interviewed while writing the biography. He said there was overwhelming agreement 
  that River Phoenix had "something" about him, and they were often searching for 
  the right word: "vivid and alive", "soul", a "spark". They often said, 
  according to Edwards, that he seemed to be "lit from within". 

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Leave It to Beaver (CBS, 1957-1958; ABC, 1958-1963)
  One of the common threads of this show's six-year run in the years before
  complete media saturation of society was the recognition that adults (parents
  and otherwise) should not forget what it was like to be a child, and furthermore,
  should allow their kids to experience this period of development without trying to
  manipulate them. (Note that this is different from the later prevailing "wisdom"
  that childhood is a time of complete innocence, and children should be protected
  from adulthood, instead of being prepared for it.) Ward Cleaver (Hugh Beaumont), 
  in particular, was always reminiscing, "When I was a boy . . .", and 
  June Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley) often asked him what his boyhood was like, 
  hoping to understand her sons a bit better (indeed, looking to Ward as a sort
  of "expert" on boyhood).

    "Ward's Baseball", 9 April 1960
  Beaver: Y'know, Wally, that's neat, Dad savin' a baseball, sorta like he 
          was a kid.
  Wally: Well, even when you grow up you've still got some kid left in ya.
  Beaver: Yeah. I guess that's why, once in a while, you even hear grown-ups 
          laughing. 

    "Beaver's Frogs", 20 May 1961
  Beaver (Jerry Mathers) wants to buy a used canoe, so Ward makes a deal with him: 
  if he can raise half the money himself, he can count on Dad for the other 
  half. Beaver gets a tip from his friend, Richard Rickover (Richard Correll)
  that he knows a man who will buy frogs for 25 cents apiece.
    June: Honey, why would a man buy frogs?
    Ward: I don't know. Maybe a pet store? Maybe he's just one of those
      lucky fellows who never grew up.

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Lord of the Rings (film, 2001, and sequels)

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Malcolm in the Middle (Fox, 2000-2006)
  Hal (Bryan Cranston), the father of the central family in the show,
  is a clear example in several episodes of the adult who has never
  lost the "spark" of his adolescence.  

    "Stock Car Races", 2 April 2000
  Hal is driving the boys to school when he suddenly announces that 
  they're going somewhere else for the day:  the Stock Car races,  
  which Hal clearly enjoys - with adolescent abandon and disregard for
  the fact that they're breaking all the rules - far more than the boys do.
  
    "The Bots and the Bees", 7 May 2000 
  The Krelboynes huddle at Malcolm's (Frankie Muniz) house to build a "killer robot" 
  which no other parents would allow.  Hal finds out and, instead of forbidding 
  them to realize their plans (as the Krelboynes all expect), he takes over and
  builds one himself, much more destructive than any the Krelboynes had
  planned.  In the process, Hal expresses rebellious and non-conformist
  emotions several times, obviously enjoying himself, and deeply impresses
  the Krelboynes: Lloyd (Kyle Sullivan)[to Malcolm]: "Wow! Your 
  father's lack of responsibility is both terrifying and [pause] oddly 
  thrilling."

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The Neverending Story [Die unendliche Geschichte](book, 1979; film, 1984, and sequels)
  Bastian Balthazar Bux gets carried away (literally) while reading a storybook.
  Michael Ende published the original novel (in German) in 1979.

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The Nutcracker (ballet, 1892)
  Based on "Nussnacker und Mausekönig" ("The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", 
  1816) by E.T.A. Hoffmann [Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann, aka Ernst Theodor Amadeus 
  Hoffmann](1776-1822), Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet is perhaps the vehicle that is most 
  responsible for this story being so widely known. A girl approaching puberty, Marie 
  Stahlbaum, sees her favourite Christmas toy, the Nutcracker, come alive on 
  Christmas Eve, after everyone is in bed. Soon dolls and toys and clocks also
  are coming alive and begin fighting with the mice that have come out from under
  the clock. (Somebody put something in the cocoa, perhaps.) After much more
  activity over several days, the Nutcracker (really a prince) takes Marie to
  his kingdom where they marry and happily ever after, &c.   

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The Odyssey (CBC [Canada], 1992-94)
  The entire series is based on the premise that adolescence
  is the highest attainment of the life-cycle, and that the 
  influence of "grown-ups" is (or would be) detrimental.
  The 39-episode series follows Jay Ziegler (Illya Woloshyn) from 
  a treehouse fall when he is 12 years old which puts him into a coma, 
  through his journey in a fantasy world in which his quest is to 
  find his father, who disappeared when they were out on a boating
  trip when Jay was seven years old.  The action of the episodes
  alternates between the "real" world and the fantasy world 
  imagined (?) by Jay while comatose.  In the "real" world, Jay's mother,
  friends and doctor maintain their faith that interacting with
  him while he is in the coma will ultimately help him recover.
  In the fantasy world, everyone is a "kid" (the word used in the
  show), the kids form societies and clubs and businesses (e.g., a
  diner), and govern themselves, become corrupt, change allegiances,
  and other in-loco-adultis behaviors.  In many episodes, the
  undesirability of becoming an adult is expressed in the script.
  One of the central characters, Medea, is "accused" of acting like
  an adult already (around episode 29 or 30).  In Episode 38
  ("The Plague", 19 December 1994), Jay has become the reluctant
  leader of the "kids'" world, and is challenged by the former
  leader, Finger (Mark Hildreth).  Jay's loyalists discuss the 
  possibility of throwing Finger "over the wall", i.e., out of 
  the kids' world into the grown-ups world.  The scientist, Fractal 
  (Jeremy Radick), notes that "grown-ups might like Finger.  He's
  an accomplished liar and he has a superior capacity for intimidation."
  This is a clear expression of the surrender of adolescence to
  adulthood.

  In many ways, this series is superior and most remarkable. It is 
  reminiscent of Lord of the Flies [1963, remade 1990] in the allegorical 
  references to childhood v. adulthood; and to Bugsy Malone [1976] in its 
  portrayal of kids in adult-like roles.) 

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Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up 
  (first produced at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, 27 December 1904)

  J.M. Barrie's character, Peter Pan, is simply the embodiment, the quintessential
  characterisation of the never-ending "spark of adolescence". Barrie's
  play and subsequent novel, Peter and Wendy (London: Hodder & Stoughton /
  New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911) were only the beginning of countless
  stage versions and variations including musicals, films, television shows,
  paintings, and statues (including the one that may be regarded as the original,
  commissioned by J.M. Barrie himself in 1902, and realised by Sir George Frampton
  in Kensington Gardens, London, in 1912).  Some versions are relatively true to the 
  original story, some only thematically related -- all of which repeat, 
  encapsulate, and preserve the central idea: if you're going to lose
  the sense of wonder that you can achieve at the end of childhood, then 
  growing up is ill-advised. The popularity of this idea, in the form of this
  character, is strong evidence that the notion "resonates" with 
  a wide range of people, that it has validity, that it is worth taking seriously.  

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The Phantom Tollbooth (film, 1970)
  The following lyrics from the movie's title sequence, "Milo's Song", set the premise:

  What's to become of Milo?
  What will he grow to be, 
  When he looks at life and he doesn't see?
  Doesn't see the bright blue sky,
  Doesn't hear the train go by,
  Doesn't sing the song
  Little fellow, what's wrong?

  What's to become of Milo?
  Lost in a vacant stare,
  Doesn't have a dream, doesn't even care.
  He's a boy who might rise high,
  Maybe even touch the sky.
  All the world could be his pie
  If he'd only try.
  Milo, open your eyes.
  Look around you and see,
  See how interesting life can be.
  Milo, aim for the sky.
  You could touch the sky, Milo.
  You could touch the sky.

  What's to become of Milo?
  Lost in a vacant stare,
  Doesn't learn in school, doesn't even care.
  He's a boy who might rise high,
  Maybe even touch the sky.
  All the world could be his pie
  If he'd only try.
  Milo, open your eyes.
  Look around you and see,
  See how interesting life can be.
  Milo . . .

    --lyrics by Norman Gimbel, music by Lee Pockriss

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Pippi Långstrumpf [Pippi Longstocking] (film and television series, beginning 1949)
  Astrid Lindgren's irrepressible character is easy to compare to Barrie's Peter Pan, 
  but lives in the real world (sort of) and is her own "Tinkerbell", so to 
  speak. Pippi does not -- must not -- grow up, because she is simply enjoying her 
  childhood too much, and is too much of a good influence on her friends -- 
  particularly Annika and Tommy -- to give that up for the constraints of adulthood. 
  Of course she has red hair!

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The Polar Express (animated film, 2004)
  A Hero Boy (Tom Hanks and Josh Hutcherson as models for the animated character) "takes an 
  extraordinary train ride to the North Pole; during this ride, he embarks on a journey 
  of self-discovery which shows him that the wonder of life never fades for those who 
  believe." [Quote from IMDb.com/ plot summary, written by Anthony Pereyra.] This plot 
  summary, as well as the script of the film itself is one of the clearest 
  expositions of the idea of the "spark of adolescence" in recent times. 

  The Boy has told his little sister that Santa Claus doesn't exist. He has "proof" --
  including a newspaper story in which department-store Santas go on strike; a 
  copy of the famous painting by Norman Rockwell, "The Discovery" (1956), 
  which shows a boy holding a Santa costume he's found in his house; and his World
  Book Encyclopedia, which describes the North Pole as a place that's "barren, devoid of life".
  The Boy's parents, thinking he's gone to sleep on Christmas Eve, come in to kiss
  him goodnight, whispering their regret that he may be doubting Santa's existence 
  (and hence, "growing up"). The Boy hears them say, "The end of the magic."
  He is shocked at this statement (though his parents still think he's asleep).

  A few minutes later, a train arrives at his house (!), and he goes outside to
  investigate. The conductor (Tom Hanks as the model and the voice) is calling, "All 
  aboard!", and asks The Boy if he's going to come along. The Boy seems to doubt 
  that the train could be going to the North Pole, so the conductor reviews his 
  notes. "It says here, no photo with a department store Santa this year, no
  letter to Santa, and you made your sister put out the milk and cookies . . . sounds 
  to me like this is your crucial year." The Boy backs away, but as the train
  is pulling away, decides to get aboard. (No spoiler here; you'll have to see the
  film yourself to find out what happens. Hint: see it in 3D, if possible; it's
  available on Blu-Ray.)

  The reference to The Boy's "crucial year" is loaded with meaning. Those
  who understand and value the "spark of adolescence" are very much aware
  that puberty is a crucial point for either igniting or losing the spark. (In 
  Developmental Psychology, this concept is referred to as a "critical period".) 
  Before this time, it's irrelevant, as the child is focused on self and home
  more than the outside world; and after this time, if the spark isn't tended,
  so to speak, and maintained, it is very difficult to rekindle it through the
  suffocating overlay of adulthood and the accompanying assumptions that 
  wonder and magic and uninhibited exploration are features of childhood that
  should be left behind and forgotten.

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The Rainbow Tribe (film, 2008)
  According to the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDb), the film's "tagline"
  (a phrase seen in the film's advertising) is, "For anyone who has ever been
  in danger . . . of growing up."

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The Simpsons (Fox, animated, debuted 1989)

    "Fat Man and Little Boy", 12 December 2004
  This episode begins with Bart's angst about the possibility he is losing his 
  childhood and becoming a dreaded adult. He has just lost his last "baby tooth", 
  but, as his mother Marge explains (or, rather, rationalises!), the tooth fairy has 
  realised that he's not a little boy any more, so instead of money under his pillow, 
  she has given him a grown-up gift: a note informing him that a donation in his 
  name has been made to the United Way. Bart tries several things to prove to himself 
  he's still a kid, finally asserting, "There's one thing that no-one can take away: my 
  childlike imagination." Unfortunately, even that fails him, and he lies depressed 
  in bed. Lisa tries to encourage him to do what she does when depressed, and write 
  something. His solution is to put a slogan on his T-shirt: "Adults Suck, Then 
  You Are One". This leads to a business selling slogan T-shirts, and the 
  rest (of the episode) is history. 

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Something Wicked This Way Comes (film, 1983)
  Another script from a story by Ray Bradbury. The "spark of adolescence" was
  unquestionably one of the themes of Bradbury's entire career as a writer.

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Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (film, 1999)

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Super 8 (film 2011)

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A Thousand Clowns (stage, 1961)
A Thousand Clowns (film, 1965)
  Herb Gardner's play, faithfully reproduced in the film with virtually the same
  cast as the original New York production, has Murray Burns (Jason Robards Jr)
  living in a cluttered New York apartment with his 12-year-old nephew, Nick
  Burns, aka Wilbur Malcome Burns / Theodore Burns / Raphael Sabatini / Dr Morris 
  Fishbein / Woodrow Burns / Chevrolet Burns / Big Sam Burns / Lefty Burns (Barry 
  Gordon). Murray is, to put it delicately, off-center, and Social Worker Dr Sandra
  Markowitz (Sandy Dennis in the play, Barbara Harris in the film) is investigating
  whether Murray should be Nick's guardian. 

    Murray explains his "parenting" rationale this way: "I just want him to 
  stay with me till I can be sure he won't turn into Norman Nothing.  I want to be
  sure he'll know when he's chickening out on himself.  I want him to get to know
  exactly the special thing that he is or else he won't notice it when it starts 
  to go. . . . I want him to know the subtle, sneaky important reason he was born a 
  human being and not a chair." 

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A Time of Waking information at boychoirs.org
A Time of Waking (film, 1969/70)

  This film highlights the Texas Boys Choir of Fort Worth, and its founder/director,
  George W. Bragg Jr. The title, and the related narration, refers clearly to the
  time of early adolescence when awareness begins to expand beyond home and self.
  This new stage of development corresponds exactly to the time when choirboys
  are selected and trained as musicians in a tradition that has continued, as the
  Narrator tells us, for more than fifteen centuries. The clear message of the
  film is that participation in a choir such as this at this "Time of Waking"
  can enrich a boy's development, and perhaps give him a lifelong benefit which might
  otherwise be lost in adulthood.

  The film also explores - sometimes without logical or smooth transitions - other
  aspects of culture, such as history, religion, patriotism and tolerance. It is
  clearly a product of its time, presenting an all-male world-view in the context
  of an institution (boys choir) which is much less prevalent today than it was in
  1970. The ideas related to the spark, the wonder that characterises adolescence,
  however, transcend the limitations of this particular film. (The music is quite
  good, too, as the Texas Boys Choir was at the top of its game in the late 1960s
  and early 1970s. The soloist, Donald Collup, is astonishing.)

  Click Here for a complete transcript of the film. The film itself
  can be viewed at boychoirs.org/museum/texas/waking.html,
  or on YouTube (labeled "Part 1").

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The Torkelsons (NBC-TV, 1991-1992)
  (continuation in 1993 titled Almost Home)

  The core of this show involves 14-year-old Dorothy Jane Torkelson, described
  in the script and associated publicity materials as a "dreamer",
  who is seen at the opening and closing of most episodes sitting in her
  upstairs window-box, gazing out, and sharing her dreams and thoughts and
  deepest secrets with the "Man in the Moon". She is eager to grow
  up, while her mother wants her to stay a "little girl" (as
  stated in the "For Love of Money" episode, 12 October 1991) as
  long as possible. Her status as a "dreamer" who is smitten with
  the wonder of the big world - and the disillusionment of those around her
  as they realize they have lost that sense of wonder - is evident in this
  exchange from "Poetry in Motion", 19 October 1991, when one of
  Dorothy Jane's secret poems comes to light:
    Verna: Now, you and I have known each other all our lives, we only
      tell each other the truth. I'm gonna tell you the truth about this poem.
      I think what you have here is dynamite. I think this's gonna blow up in
      your face. You know. I blew up in my momma's face.
    Millicent: She's fourteen years old, and she's fantasizin'. 
      Fantasizin' is all you have at fourteen.
    Verna: No, honey, fantasizing is all you have at thirty-six.
    Millicent: Yeah, well, that's true.
    Verna: She's just your precious baby girl, and you love her, and
      you can't see past that, but darlin', at fourteen you have curiosity,
      and exploration. I remember when I was her age, boys were all I thought
      about.
    Millicent: Me, too.
    Verna: Hmmm. And then I got married. Just sucked the life right
      outta me.

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Twilight Zone: The Movie (film, 1983)
    Segment 2: "Kick the Can"

  Introduction (voiceover): It is sometimes said that where there is
    no hope, there is no life.  Case in point: the residents of Sunnyvale
    Rest Home, where hope is just a memory.  But hope just checked into
    Sunnyvale, disguised as an elderly optimist who carries his magic in
    a shiny tin can.

  Several old folks in a retirement home are reminiscing about their
  youth, wishing they could do various things again.  Mr Leo Conroy 
  (Bill Quinn) scoffs and cautions the others to avoid risks at their 
  age.  A new arrival, Mr Bloom (Scatman Crothers) is quite the opposite.
  "When I rest, I rust" he says.  Mrs Dempsey (Helen Shaw) would like to 
  be able to dance.  Mr Agee (Murray Matheson) would give anything "just 
  to be hitting puberty again. . . . I always wanted to be Douglas 
  Fairbanks".  Mr Weinstein (Martin Garner) loved to climb when
  he was a boy.  "Anything, like a cat I could climb."  When asked what
  he played when he was young, Mr Bloom tells them, "My game was 'kick
  the can'."  He encourages the others to go outside and play.  "The
  day we stop playing is the day we start getting old. . . . Maybe if
  we play 'kick the can' we'll get a little hold of that magic we
  all been missing.  Get a hold on youth."  Mrs Dempsey likes Mr Bloom's
  ideas, but cautions that going outside and playing a game is "against
  the rules."  "Rules?" asks Mr Bloom, "Did rules ever stop a child?
  You gonna let rules stop you from the chance of being young again?"

  Bloom promises they will break the rules that very night.  He
  makes the rounds, wakes up the believers, and they all go out into the
  yard and become children again, except Mr Bloom.  Young Mr Agee (Evan
  Richards) notices Bloom has not changed:  "Sir, I don't wish to appear 
  ungrateful (Agee is British!), but why didn't you come, too?"  "I found 
  out, long, long time ago," Bloom tells him, "I wanted to be my own true 
  age, and try and keep a young mind."  The others begin to realize 
  that being actual children again may not be as pleasant as they 
  thought, being cold, not knowing where they're going to spend the night, 
  and facing their life's difficulties all over again.   Young Mrs Dempsey
  (Laura Mooney) sums it up:  "Oh please, I didn't ask to be young
  again.  All I wanted to do is dance.  I can be old and dance."  Young Mrs
  Weinstein agrees:  "I remember the night my father died . . . I don't
  want to lose all the people that I loved again."  Mr Bloom tells them,
  "Well, you could always go inside and go back to bed.  Maybe if you old
  folks had a little of that magic still left in you, you could wake up
  back in your old, nice bodies, but with fresh, young minds."

  They go back upstairs, to Mr Conroy's room, where all change back
  into old folks, except Mr Agee.  Conroy realizes, through Young Mr
  Agee, that he really wants youth again himself.  "Please," he says
  to Young Agee who is leaving through the window, "take me with you.  
  I want to go, too."  "You can't come with me, Leo" Young Agee says.
  "You'll have to stay with yourself. "

  In the final scene we see Conroy kicking a can around the front 
  yard of the Home, as everyone is leaving for a picnic.  Except
  Mr Bloom, who happily walks down the street to the Driftwood 
  Retirement Home, where the staff have been waiting for his arrival.
    screenplay by: George Clayton Johnson and Richard Matheson, and
                   Josh Rogan, from a story by George Clayton Johnson  

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The Wizard of Oz (film, 1939)
  Life is wondrous (and in colour!) when you're not in Kansas any more.


=======================================================
Music celebrating childhood:

  Bartók Béla - A Gyermekeknek [For Children] (piano, 79 pieces), 
    1908/1945; for children to play

  Ludwig von Beethoven - Für Elise (piano), Bagatelle No.25 in a, 1810;
    for children to play

  Benjamin Britten - The Golden Vanity (vaudeville for boys and piano), Op.78, 1966
     commissioned by the Wiener Sängerknaben -- the boys themselves! -- as a piece
     they could perform in the middle of their concerts, the position usually occupied
     by costumed operettas; according to the liner notes of the Decca (SET 445, released 1970) 
     recording on which Britten himself played the piano part, the choirboys 
     "particularly asked that they should not have to play girls' parts",
     as they usually have to do in other operettas they perform [the liner notes are
     signed "B.B.", presumably Benjamin Britten]; much of Britten's music
     is written for boys' voices and deals with themes of childhood and growing up;
     many Britten biographers have noted that Britten himself retained a childlike
     sensibility throughout his life, and had close relationships with young people
     as well as his contemporaries; see, for example, John Bridcut. Britten's Children.
     London: Faber and Faber, 2006; and Bridcut's 2004 film of the same name, released in
     2013 on DVD 

  Claude Debussy - Children's Corner (piano, 6 pieces), 1908;
    pieces meant to be evocative of childhood, and in particular, toys 
    in the collection of Debussy's daughter, Claude-Emma (Chou-Chou);
    titles of the pieces were in English, an apparent nod to Chou-Chou's
    English governess

  Gustav Mahler - many instances of setting to music the poems in the
    Des Knaben Wunderhorn cycle -- Symphony II, VIII, and at least
    two song cycles, one with the Wunderhorn title itself

  Serge Prokofiev - Peter and the Wolf, Op.67, 1936
    clear exposition of the idea of "spark of adolescence"

  Robert Schumann - Kinderszenen (piano, 13 "movements"), Op.15, 1838