VISUAL THINKING STUDIOS

VTS in Northern California

Northern California is a key region for VTS programming, beginning with docent training at SFMOMA in the mid-1990s.  In 2003, through the Michael Martin Foundation, VTS began collaborations with schools in the SFUSD, and SFMOMA & the De Young.  Since then, VTS has expanded programming throughout the bay area, working with 40 schools and more than 1,000 teachers, reaching 20,000 students in collaboration with many major museums in the region.

Alameda County

Berkeley/BUSD

  • Leconte Elementary School
  • Rosa Parks Elementary School

Emeryville/EUSD

  • Anna B. Yates Elementary School

Hayward/HUSD

  • Faith Ringgold School of the Arts & Sciences

Oakland/OUSD

  • Sequoia Elementary School
  • Redwood Heights Elementary School
  • New Highland Academy
  • Kaiser Elementary School

Marin County

San Rafael/Dixie USD

  • Marie Silviera Elementary School, Dixie USD

Mill Valley/MVSD

  • Old Mill Elementary School
  • Park Elementary School

City & County of SF

  • Argonne Elementary School, Richmond
  • Bessie Carmichael Elementary School, SOMA 
  • Buena Vista Elementary School, Potrero
  • Cesar Chavez Elementary School , Mission
  • Cobb Elementary School, Western Addition
  • Dianne Feinstein Elementary School, Parkside
  • Glen Park Elementary School, Glen Park
  • Grattan Elementary School, Cole Valley
  • Guadalupe Elementary School, Excelsior
  • LaFayette Elementary School
  • Marshall Elementary School, Mission
  • McKinley Elementary School, Castro
  • New Traditions Elementary School, Pan Handle
  • Peabody Elementary School, Richmond
  • Redding Elementary School, Tenderloin
  • Sanchez Elementary School, Castro
  • Sherman Elementary School, Union Street
  • Commodore Sloat Elementary School, Balboa Terrace
  • Sunnyside Elementary School, Glen Park
  • Sutro Elementary School, Richmond
  • E.R. Taylor Elementary School, Vis. Valley
  • Tenderloin Elementary School
  • UCSF Child Life Department, Parnassus
  • West Portal Elementary School, West Portal
  • Yick Wo Elementary School, Russian Hill

Art Partners

The success of VTS in SF Bay Region is also due to the collaboration of the Bay Area's world-class museums and arts centers:

  • African American Art & Culture Complex, San Francisco
  • Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
  • Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley
  • Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley 
  • California Academy of Science, San Francisco 
  • The David Brower Center, Berkeley 
  • De Young Museum, San Francisco
  • Kala Art Institute, Berkeley 
  • Legion of Honor, San Francisco 
  • Mills College Art Museum, Oakland
  • Museum of African Diaspora, San Francisco 
  • Oakland Museum of California, Oakland
  • San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco

North Bay Region

Sonoma Valley USD

  • Dunbar Elementary School
  • El Verano Elementary School
  • Flowery Elementary School
  • Prestwood Elementary School
  • Sassarini Elementary School
  • Sonoma Charter School
  • The Presentation School

Bellevue USD

  • Bellevue Elementary
  • Meadowview Elementary
  • Kawana Elementary
  • Taylor Mountain Elementary

Petaluma/ Old Adobe USD

  • Old Adobe Elementary School
  • La Tercera Elementary
  • Miwok Elementary School
  • Sonoma Mountain Elementary

Oak Grove Union School District

  • Oak Grove Elementary
  • Willowside Middle School

Cotati-Rohnert Park USD

  • Waldo-Rohnert Elementary School
  • Evergreen Elementary
  • Marguerite Hahn Elementary

The success of VTS in the North Bay is due to the support of our local museums as well as teachers and administrators spreading the word on the impact VTS has had on them, their students and their staff.

Funding for VTS in the San Francisco and Northern California region has been provided in part by:

  • The Compton Foundation 
  • The Haas Sr. Fund
  • Margot Magowan in support of VTS at Lilienthal Alternative School, San Francisco
  • Panta Rhea Foundation
  • San Francisco Foundation

Northern California Press

April 17, 2010
Petaluma360.com
Schools develop innovative methods, despite economic struggles.
Click here to read the entire article.

January 31, 2010
Sonoma Country Life
Click here to read the entire article.

November 2, 2009
Petaluma360.com
Linda Postenreider writes about the "Toast for Change" event at the Mystic Theater introducing Visual Thinking Strategies, hosted by Old Adobe School District Superintendent, Diane Zimmerman.

September 18, 2009
The Sonoma Valley Sun
Grounded in art education, Visual Thinking Strategies program helps create well-rounded, critically thinking students.

August 14, 2008
Sonoma News
Program Instills Visual Thinking
"A newly launched program at has [students] not only studying famous pieces of artwork, but also training [them] to draw inferences and think critically, which helps students excel in other subjects.

February 13, 2004
San Francisco Chronicle
"Program at Elementary Schools Empowers Kids in 'Visual Thinking'"
by Kathleen Sullivan, Chronicle Staff Writer
As soon as the image appeared on the screen, three children swinging around a pole in front of a pile of rubble and a damaged building with gaping holes exposing wallpapered walls, several fifth-graders shot their hands into the air.