Dynamic learning environments in the arts that nurture all students' capacities for deep meaning, synthesis and connection-making have the best chance of standing in the gap toward educational justice. New paradigms for teaching and learning are needed that elevate all students' capacities--not just the select few who excel in narrow subsets of intelligence. This article argues for a more socially just and equitable education that can be realized through and within cultures of thinking that develop students' balanced intelligence. A mixed model, research study conducted in visual art classrooms is highlighted, reporting the positive effect of balanced, learner-centered pedagogy and environments on the development of students' quality thinking and dispositions. More learner-centered classrooms also positively affected students' self-beliefs. This study resulted in new assessments for measuring students' balanced thinking skills and dispositions, as well as an emerging theory of "Quality Thinking Systems" (Ingalls Vanada, 2011).