Join us at the 2026 USES Neighborhood Gala: Tickets Available Now!
The Children’s Art Centre is a space dedicated to the arts, a centerpiece of USES’ youth curriculum. The program focuses on helping youth develop self-expression and build new skills while exploring concepts of nature, science, and math through an artistic lens. Our approach to art education intentionally supports socio-emotional development, hand in hand with other classroom learning. We prioritize process over product, giving students the freedom to explore, experiment, and problem-solve within a thoughtful structure. The goal of this program is empowerment; guiding students to find how they can express themselves authentically, build confidence, and develop the belief that their ideas matter.
Art activities range from self-portraits to collage work to sculptural assemblage giving students the opportunity to explore various mediums and avenues of creativity. The lessons are designed specifically for different developmental levels and learning styles so each child is able to fully engage.
The Children’s Art Centre (CAC) was founded in 1914 as the first public fine arts museum designed specifically for children. FitzRoy Carrington, who worked at the Museum of Fine Arts, founded it with the vision to create a gallery that welcomed children in to be loud and to interact with the arts in a way that was not welcome in conventional museums. After opening, the space quickly became popular and was nicknamed, “Little Glass Treasure House.”
In the 1920s, Isabella Stewart Gardner became a fan of the space, even lending some of her own art collection for the children to enjoy. The space evolved to begin offering a studio and classes for children to try out diverse mediums of art. The Centre had become so popular that art organizations around the world were sending art to be displayed and the art from the CAC was being shared back. The Director of Painting at the Louvre in Paris even personally invited the work from the children of 36 Rutland Street to feature in an exhibition in 1937!
The space continues today for the children of USES to ensure that arts programming remains accessible to all children to develop creativity, imagination, and self-expression.
Check out the CAC in the Northeastern Archives! 
