This paper reports a research study into the effects of rich, sustained visual arts instruction on 103 inner city 9-year-olds in two major US cities. We use the lenses of social learning theory, theories of motivation and self-efficacy, and recent research on artistic thinking to investigate the programs' effects on children's self-beliefs and creative thinking. The study enlisted a pre-post measure, treatment-comparison group design along with structured observations of participant and comparison group classrooms. The arts students made significant comparative gains on a self-efficacy scale and on an "originality" subscale of a standard creativity test. These effects are attributed to children's engagement in art and to the social organization of instruction including reinforcing peer and student-adult relationships. Relationships between self-efficacy beliefs and tendencies to think originally are explored. (Contains 2 tables.)