A method was developed to encourage urban elementary school students to humanize their environments through artwork and stories. The 46 participants were students in grades 2 through 6 from an inner city neighborhood characterized by violence and urban crime. The children came to a neighborhood center once a week for an enrichment and tutoring program. They were asked to draw a picture of what their neighborhood block was like and another picture of what they would like their block to be. A week later the children were guided through telling an original story about their drawings. The children were certainly aware of violence in their environments. Their information fell into three main categories: (1) what the block looks like; (2) the activity of people on the block; and (3) how they would like the block to look. The voices of these children, expressed in artwork and recreated in story form, became part of a process that might produce energy for other experiences that are part of an enriching school day. Children's ideas about their environment expressed in this way can educate the educator and provide evidence that children are "meaningmakers" in their own worlds. (Contains 11 references.) (SLD)