In the fall of 2007, CAW Teaching Artist Leon Reid IV asked the participating students of a Creative Arts Works (CAW) after-school program a difficult question: "How would you change the world as President of the United States?" The group – all students at Thurgood Marshall Academy in Harlem – was initially hesitant to answer, until they were told they were going to draw what they would do as President. Students were encouraged to depict their hopes and vision for government in their own artistic style. The mention of drawing jumpstarted a creative process that lasted over ten weeks and often past class hours.
Students pondered deeply about the state of contemporary affairs, both domestic and foreign. Problems were blurted out, arguments made, solutions proposed. A new constitution could have been drafted from the issues raised in these sessions. The discussions and debates formed
a basis for the written portion of the book. Once the ideas were created, the students were asked to depict them through art. Wi
