Founded in 1974, Color It Orange (CIO) is an annual juried student art exhibition that takes place at the Laguna College of Art + Design (LCAD). Conceived by Muriel Reynolds, a founder of Designing Women, CIO began as a means to advertise what was then known as the Laguna Beach School of Art, while supporting youth art in Orange County. The first event coincided with the 1974 designation of March as Youth Art Month. CIO is run entirely by volunteers... and originally invited all K-12 students in Orange County to submit their art, although now it accepts artwork only from high school students. For the first four years, the student artwork was displayed at the Laguna Art Museum. The exhibition then moved to LCAD campus and between five and twenty student exhibitors each year received a scholarship to a summer art course at the college. For a number of years, Tiffany’s in South Coast Plaza held an auxiliary exhibition, in which a select few student art pieces were displayed in their store and a reception was held to honor the student artists. CIO was supported by Designing Women’s fundraising efforts and various grants.

Over the years, CIO has been held in conjunction with other national and international youth art events. In 1986, CIO combined with other student art exhibits in OC to take part in the national Imagination Celebration series of art events sponsored by the Kennedy Center Education Department’s Programs for Children and Youth, which took place annually since 1977. That same year, Designing Women also coordinated the Color It Orange–Chiba, Japan Art Exchange, in which 70 pieces of student art were exchanged to be exhibited in Orange County and Chiba.

Professional artists jury the artwork according to grade-level. Since its inception, the exhibition has grown from adjudicating hundreds of pieces to thousands. CIO continues to be held each year and is open to the public for two weeks to a month in March or April, before the art pieces are returned to the students. The summer art courses at LCAD awarded to student winners allow them to earn college credit in advance.