Children in underserved communities deserve more opportunities to write, create, and tell stories of their own. AI is already part of their lives. The question is who holds the pen.

Story Sprout is a free picture-book studio and curriculum where children write every word of their own stories and direct an AI illustrator scene by scene. The AI only draws. When a picture doesn’t match what a child meant, they return to their words: What’s missing? How could I describe this more clearly? Page by page, children practice writing and revising—not to complete an assignment, but to bring their stories to life.

Story Sprout began in 2025 at a Salvation Army center. After children encountered inappropriate ads on commercial image tools, we built a studio of our own, with no ads and no child accounts. What we learned in the classroom also led us to develop a learning framework. A paper describing Story Sprout’s approach and studio was peer-reviewed and accepted to the NeurIPS 2026 Creative AI Track.

To date, about 150 children have participated in Story Sprout. Through free monthly webinars, we also train educators and volunteers to bring the program to their own classrooms and after-school centers.

Story Sprout has received $1,500 in grants through the YouthMADE Amplify Grant and the Be More Grant, with additional applications under way. Grants cover part of the cost. Your gift helps cover the rest—keeping the studio free, putting finished books into children’s hands, and helping new centers get started.

We keep Story Sprout free because a child’s opportunity to write should not depend on a family’s ability to pay for a subscription. Our goal is simple: more children who write more, revise more, and own their words.

Story Sprout is a program of Kindness Matters Inc., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Where your gift goes

Keeping the studio free, safe, and ad-free: illustration generation and hosting for every child’s book.
A printed copy of each finished book for the child to keep.
Starter kits and training for new after-school sites.
Operations and research, including studying what works and presenting the findings at conferences such as NeurIPS.

Story Sprout: Kids Write, AI Draws