This collection of writings addresses the issue of developing a generation of aesthetically aware and involved individuals. Each of the 19 articles emphasizes art education as an indispensable force in the total school program. Together these writings form sources of inspiration and ideas for the elementary art teacher. Divided into four categories, the first group of articles, presenting a variety of ideas and theories that art educators hold, are: (1) "Advancing Art in U.S. Public Schools" (John Goodlad); (2) "The Right to Feel Beautiful" (Edward Jacomo); (3) "Elementary Art and the Open Education Movement" (Kent Anderson); (4) "The Open Classroom: An Approach to Individualized Art Education" (Charles Margolis); (5) "The Whittier School Art Center: A Studio Experience in Art Learning for Primary Age Children" (Carol Lokken); (6) "Art Education in the Rapidly Changing World" (Earl Collins); (7) "A Revised Philosophy of Art Education: To Create a World that is Humane" (Julianne Biehl); and (8) "Encounters with Process, Product, and Self-Concept" (Carolyn S. Thompson). The second group of articles offers successful teaching approaches. The articles include: (9)"A Visit to the World of the Four-Year-Old: Implications for the Kindergarten Art Program" (Jo Ann Warfield); (10) "Art Is..." (Phyllis Nelson); (11) "The Sketch Tour" (Geraldine Butler); (12) "The Three R's in Art: Reading, 'Riting, and Role Playing" (Penny Platt); (13) "Painting Poetry" (Ruth Straus Gainer); and (14) "Birds of a Feather: Perceptual Experiences with Kindergarten Children" (Edward Jacomo). Articles in the third group look at areas of special needs and describe approaches art educators have created to deal with them. These articles are: (15) "Creative Art and the Emotionally Disturbed Student" (Ginny Graves); (16) "Upward Bound Art: An Art Program for the Culturally Different" (Roger W. Bybee); and (17) "Environmental and Aesthetic Education for the Primary Grades" (Albert Sarkas). The book concludes with a section that calls for the inclusion of art appreciation and aesthetic education in art curricula that presently emphasize art making, and for the enhancing of art education's status through teacher professionalism. The two articles in this section are: (18) "Making is Not Enough" (John Stewig) and (19) "The Time is Now" (Sylvia Corwin). Some articles contain references. (MM)