According to Maxine Greene (1988), aesthetic education is "integral to the development of persons--to their cognitive, perceptual, emotional, and imaginative development" (p. 7). The purpose of this paper is to present the developing sense of self that pre-service teachers experienced through an aesthetic entry point, the 9/11 mural by Graydon Parrish entitled, "The Cycle of Terror and Tragedy/" Pre-service teachers explored the psychosocial theories that Erikson (1963) outlined in the course text by Woolfolk (2008) while viewing the 9/11 mural. Greene's (2001) research on aesthetic education and Perkins' (1994) research on visual thinking structured and supported the aesthetic experience, thereby providing a foundation to begin thinking deeply about the psychosocial theory of Erikson when facing the expansive allegorical mural by Parrish. The museum arena in which the mural was displayed provided a community space for pre-service teachers to think critically with one another. This kind of structured aesthetic experience can be key to an emancipatory form of teacher preparation.