From a visual perspective, many disadvantaged students are assigned to schools that are dark, shabby and lifeless--more like a factory or fortress than a place for learning. Equally lifeless is the standard test-driven curriculum which utterly fails to tap the interests and talents of these students. Stultified learning environments are particularly incongruous among Native students, whose cultural heritage is rich with experiential, nature based, visual based, and value based learning. The author carefully critiques current mainstream schooling which is "dispiriting" to many students. As an alternative, the National Indian Youth Leadership Organization has piloted highly engaging art and culture based service-learning activities. Students at various grade levels are engaged in producing dazzling murals which radically change the visual culture and challenge the hidden curriculum of their schools. This account describes how these "deep learning" creative activities are transforming the lives of marginalized youth, producing a paradigm shift in the students' perception of themselves and of their schools.