Arts programs are often credited with helping children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) gain cognitive and social skills. As with all claims of transfer from experience in the arts to abilities in non-arts domains, empirical evidence is mixed, and often criticized for both imprecise methodologies and a lack of connection back to the art form itself. As a first step to investigate what is actually occurring within a program that may lead to change, we focused on stakeholders' perspectives of how a theater program may be affecting children's competencies. We completed a systematic study of adult stakeholders of a large school-based, successful musical theater program, measuring: 1) their beliefs about the useful strategies within a theater experience that may be causing change in students; 2) their perceptions of what kinds of student outcomes may change as a result of the program; and 3) whether experience and role of stakeholders affected these beliefs. We found stakeholders emphasized modeling, routines, and relaxation as useful strategies, and perceived that the program built imitation, motor abilities and turn-taking skills. These observations raise questions for standard theories of the effects of arts focused on only higher order social and emotional or academic skills and emphasize the importance of including stakeholders in theorizing and measuring the effects of arts programs for all populations.