Across the cafeteria and down the hallways of C.L. Taitano elementary school, a boardwalk art show, takes place in Sinajana.

Serving as a portal into a creative world filled with vibrant colors, textures, and shapes.

Parts of the campus today transformed into a gallery with more than 500 pieces of student artwork put out on display, guiding observers into a deeper imagination of the young mind.

4th grader at C.L. Taitano Joseph Hanson shared, “I've been drawing art since I was 4 but I've always told my mom and dad I don't like my art.”

From self-portraits to collages and experimenting with different mediums, it’s clear the home of the deerlings are discovering their artistic selves.

“But one day my Art teacher inspired me to draw,” He said.

Hanson also added how he feels about art, “It makes me feel like being myself. What is it? Da’Vinci? I forgot the guy's name…but it made me feel like that guy.”

He showed us his creation. Noting, “I tried my best to draw...this one.”

And for 5th grader Mailee Manibusan, she shared, “I made this flower because of Guam and my grandma loved this flower.”

She’s finding that art is a peaceful outlet she can turn to, she said, “It makes me feel relaxed and happy.”

Her fellow 5th graders Jesse Artero and Cheywon Ahn, said creating is simply a great time. They expressed it’s fun and helps them relax.

The joy and encouragement for students to express themselves emotionally through their artistic interpretation is evident in their works. Some use their experiences during Typhoon Mawar as inspiration for their masterpieces.

It's a healthy way of processing diverse feelings that Guam Department of Education (GDOE) Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Swanson supports.

“When we use the arts to deal with sometimes topics that are very difficult to have in a conversation–social topics–and I noticed the work that our kids did here with their response to Typhoon Mawar–if you look closely, you can see an awful lot of emotion–the fear they felt during that time, and then also in some of them, the expression of joy about hey the sun came out and it's all good–but at the same time, my favorite tree is out in the front yard, so how do I feel about that? And I was telling students, this is one of the most constructive ways we can express ourselves,” Swanson said.

It's why he says he’s championing the idea for the expansion of the arts within GDOE. Still, that desire must be met with financial support to actualize.

Swanson said, “Well, that idea is in the context of the whole overall budget process. We can more readily staff core content–sometimes it takes helping people understand or have a little mind shift that the arts are also part of the core, and we’re seeing that more and more. We are in the front of the process for the upcoming fiscal year, and we’re gonna have some conversations around that, and I do not want to tip my hand at this point–but it’s like, there’s always a challenged balance: What we want against what we can afford, and we have to go through the process.”

And while he adds that GDOE is doing the math on everything it wants to do, that data will have to go before the Guam Education Board (GEB) later this month and then before the legislature.

Still, art is more than just the drawings and paintings for this bunch.

As 4th grader Joseph puts it, “This is a really good day because everyone is looking at mine.”