As co-headmaster of Boston Arts Academy, the author tells the stories of two students whose passion and talent in the arts helped them become more successful in academic subjects. Boston Arts Academy accepts students on the basis of auditions, regardless of their previous academic or discipline records. Yet a large majority of its students go on to two-year and four-year colleges and universities. Nathan explains how the school's focus on the arts enables it to foster individual students' strengths and interests. But the arts, she writes, are not just important for such artistic students--they must be part of the core curriculum for all students if we want to produce active, engaged, 21st century learners.