By exploring changemaker principles as a component of social justice art education this research-informed article exemplifies how moral consciousness and responsibility can be developed when training artist teachers. It embeds changemaker philosophy in the higher education art curriculum and demonstrates how this can create ruptures and ripples into educational pedagogy at the school level. A sociocultural qualitative methodology, that employs questionnaires, the visual and a focus group as methods, is used to reveal three lenses on student perceptions of the changemaker principle. The dissemination of these perceptions and sharing of active art experiences communicate how engagement with the concept of changemaker in art education can deepen the cognitive growth of learners, whilst facilitating an understanding of and involvement in interculturality.