Discusses ways a commercial art class at the middle school level helped students connect ideas and feelings and modes of expression within themselves, connect skills they were learning in school with what they perceived in life, and extend their ideas and expression to connect with the community. Notes how these connections motivate students to…

Describes a high school commercial art program for gifted students that focuses on "real-life causes" and enables the students to make connections with their own feelings and creativity, with learning resources and experiences, and with the community and the world beyond. Different students' experiences are detailed. (CR)