Describes the Prospect Archives, which contain children's artwork and academic work as well as observations and reports on the children by teachers and other staff members of the Prospect School. The contents of the archive document the growth of individual students over a period of years. (Author/IRT)

The paper examines the early development of a highly talented child artist in light of three theories of graphic development in children: (1) drawing development is a search for increasingly satisfying solutions to graphic problems that proceeds along a stage-like path; (2) gifted children aspiring to be artists carefully imitate their culture's…