Designed by the Harvard University Project Zero team, Artful Thinking is basically a program that aims to improve students' awareness of art and increase their critical thinking skills by interpreting works of art and discussing them. In this way, students will acquire twenty-first century skills such as critical thinking and aesthetic understanding. The primary objective of this research was to investigate the impact of the Artful Thinking program on the development of critical thinking skills and attitudes towards art in 6th grade students, by implementing it as action research. This study was conducted in a middle school in Gaziantep, Turkey. 23 students and a Turkish teacher participated in the study. A total of twenty-four works of art (paintings, graffiti and ancient mosaics) were shown to students over eight weeks. Students expressed their opinions about each picture for 10-15 minutes. In order to make the students think in higher-order about art, the teacher asked questions prepared by the researcher. Thus, students were enabled to develop critical and higher order thoughts about the paintings. The findings from the students, teacher, and researcher indicated that the Artful Thinking program had a favorable impact on the students' perceptions of art, and that the students' cognitive abilities and capacity for articulation were enhanced by this program.