Chronic misbehavior in adolescents is deeply rooted in their inner worlds, generated by their lives outside school. It is my argument that by involving behaviorally challenged students in art during their regular school day, they have the opportunity to develop a life long positive behavior through which they can find focus, self-esteem, and vehicle of appropriate expression. The purpose of this study is to find answers to the following questions: How does an in school art program impact behaviorally challenged youth? What will students at the Center learn about their world and their inner selves through art? What will students learn about communication through art? What happens when students in an alternative educational setting confront life’s issues through art? Field research was conducted through an eight week project at a local alternative secondary school which does not have a regular art program. The students are from a mix of rural and urban communities. The art class was designed around an issues-based curriculum emphasizing students’ communication of personal views and self-reflection. Students responded to a call to artists dealing with the subject of domestic violence in the first half of the project. The second half of the project was more open to student choice of subject matter. This research was inspired by critical theory along with social reconstructionists in the field, and the idea that art holds basic therapeutic characteristics. I argue that if students are challenged to confront their life’s issues through art, they may become aware of underlying causes and effects, and can begin working through said issues, learning to make conscious, positive choices in their lives in and out of school.