In this article, the author discusses the pedagogy she follows--the three-sentence curriculum of Teaching for Artistic Behavior (TAB): What do artists do? The child is the artist. The classroom is the child's studio. The author conducted a qualitative action research case study by following two cohorts of students into 2nd and 5th grade as they transition from teacher-directed learning to choice-based learning. The study answers the following questions: (1) What changes can the educator make to create a more successful transition to TAB? and (2) How can these changes help already self-directed students invest more deeply in their artwork? The methods included research memos, documentation of artifacts, interviews, and a survey. Findings show that TAB pedagogy teaches students to Engage & Persist in the art studio by encouraging intrinsic motivation, self-directedness, collaboration, and risk-taking, play, and exploration. TAB is a way for art educators to reimagine their learner-directed art studio and give students control, and therefore creativity.