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But where other little boys might be content with four walls and a roof, Jaylan wanted more. From the start he saw Legos as more than a toy version of bricks and mortar. He saw style.

Jaylan began decorating his houses with Lego-fashioned beds, couches, shelves -- even a Jacuzzi. And after he exhausted the design possibilities of plastic bricks, he eased into a new arena: fashion. He was 11.

His mother, Debbie Johnson, knew that it was only a matter of time before her insatiable young artist would hunger for more than sketch pads and blocks, and she began looking for art programs. SeeSaw appealed to her and Jaylan -- despite his initial reservations.

"I thought I wasn't going to fit in," he says. "Everybody seemed so cool and more interesting than me. I felt more plain, and they seemed more artsy."

Jaylan has studied cast-making, screen-printing and jewelry-making, and his official portfolio is filling up with his varied assignments. He got a sewing machine for Christmas and hopes to take one of his dress designs from page to stage for a SeeSaw-organized AIDS fundraiser fashion show this year.

He plans to stick with SeeSaw until he graduates from high school. Then he wants to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles before launching his own line of ready-to-wear fashions.

Jaylan still designs Lego homes. But with SeeSaw's guidance, he has a far bigger toolbox to draw from.

DARIUS McCRARY, 17 SOUTHERN HIGH SCHOOL, DURHAM APPRENTICE

Darius has been sketching ever since he can remember. But he never saw it as more than an idle pastime. When he moved last summer to a new neighborhood, he didn't even bother to pack his sketchbooks. He threw them away.

Then he found SeeSaw, and he's kicking himself. Those old pictures could have filled his new portfolio and provided a crucial perspective on his development as an artist.

Darius has worked feverishly for the past 10 months to restock his portfolio and expand his skills. His latest team project is the Urban Print line of screen-printed fabric tote bags. He has been sewing for all he's worth in SeeSaw's steamy upstairs studio to stockpile bags to sell at the Bimbe Cultural Arts Festival, which concludes from 1 to 6 p.m. today at Durham Athletic Park.

This is not what he had envisioned when he first applied to SeeSaw, sketchbook in hand.

"I was like, 'Sewing? Sewing is for girls,' " he says with a laugh. But after several frustrating afternoons stitching, tearing out flawed stitches and stitching again, he developed newfound respect for sewing machine wranglers of both sexes.

Darius plans to apply to N.C. State University's College of Design and become an illustrator. SeeSaw's strict demands have helped him become more focused in school, he says.

Even his off-hours are more productive. Television and video games don't hold the same allure anymore. He'd rather grab his sketch pad and make up for all the time he frittered away not so long ago when he thought his art was trash.

IMHOTEP HESTER, 23 SEESAW EMPLOYEE AND INDEPENDENT DESIGNER

SeeSaw was one of the first places Imhotep Hester visited after returning to Durham in 2005. He intended merely to catch up with old friends from the studio's first years in the late 1990s. But in no time he was teaching art to summer campers at his alma mater.

The staff had changed since his graduation, but the mission was the same. And Hester was eager to help a new batch of students develop the discipline and courage to pursue their art.

He also saw an opportunity to practice what he preached. While working part time at SeeSaw, Hester started his own hip-hop-inspired design business, Bull City Clothing Co., with the staff's guidance. His family thought he was bonkers to pursue such a risky venture, he says, especially when he quit his full-time retail job to free up his time. But he felt confident that the art skills and business savvy he had developed at SeeSaw would help him build his business wisely.

Hester's company is a year old and has four employees. His clothing is sold at East to West on South Roxboro Street, and he says he's negotiating with other stores. He wants to build slowly, so as not build more demand than he can supply.

Meanwhile, he hopes to play a larger role at SeeSaw in the coming year, helping teens get a deeper understanding of how a product goes from design to manufacturing and retail. That way, when they leave high school or college, they can have an even bigger jump start than he had.

"Life is not about doing what other people are telling you to do," he says. "It's about taking what you know is true for yourself and applying that to your life. Art is true to them."

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