This study was presented at the American Educational Research Association 2012 conference in Vancouver, Canada. The study explored how action research of arts-based teaching (ABT) impacted at-risk students in three urban public schools in southern California, USA. ABT was defined as using arts, music, drama, and dance in teaching other subjects. A cycle of planning, action, observation, and reflection of the action research took one year. Participants included an emotionally disturbed first-grade boy whose father was recently killed violently, 4 sixth-grade students with learning disorders, and a class of 19 students from a probationary high school. Photo-elicitation combined with narrative inquiry, drama in English language arts, and visual arts in high school world history were integrated. Various observational notes, interviews, surveys, and assessments were collected and analyzed. Data analysis showed dramatic impact of ABT on the at-risk students' behavior, motivation, and academic achievement.