The purpose of this study was to determine and investigate -the criteria used to identify artistically gifted children and attempt to determine their validity. Sources of data included interviews with art teachers, interviews with children in combination with observations, and observations of characteristics cited in the literature. With one exception, the criteria which these art teachers used to identify artistically gifted children correlate with criteria found in the literature. There appeared to be, however, some characteristics with which these art teachers were not familiar. One characteristic found in the literature was neither listed by these art teachers nor observed by the investigator. Results indicated that these art teachers may value different types of characteristics than the experts.