In the 21 century, with the pressing needs for high quality early childhood education, the importance of teachers\' qualification and professional knowledge is also highly recognized. However, early childhood art education is carried out without a sufficient art program and implemented by teachers who lack adequate knowledge in art. The purpose of this study was to revealthe importance of art education in early childhood and roles teachers need to play in order to increase the quality of early childhood art education. The findings of this study provide implications for ways to increase teachers\' professional knowledge inearly childhood art education. The research questions include: 1. How is early childhood art education implemented in a child care center? 2. What are the difficulties experienced by teachers as they carry out early childhood art education? 3. What roles do teachers play in early childhood art education and what are the needs expressed by teachers to overcome difficulties they experience? I observed a child care center classroom of 28 5-year-olds in Gang-Reng city in Korea during choice activity times from October 14th to December 9th, 2005. Each observation lasted for about 40 50 minutes. In addition, four teachers were interviewed about the difficulties they experience as they implement art education in their classroom and their perceptions on the needs of professional knowledge in art. These four teachers included 1 teacher in charge of a class of 5-year-olds (with 7 years of teaching experiences), 1 teacher of 4-year-olds (with 4 years of teaching experiences), and 2 teachers of 3-year-olds (with 3 years and 1 year of teaching experiences). Major findings of this study are as follows. First, teachers participating in this study showed typical teaching styles without considering children\'s individual differences and interests due to their lack of professional knowledge in art. They were not able to provide diverse art materials and introduce various artistic techniques. Second, teachers experienced difficulties as they provided art activities for young children because they did not have adequate knowledge in art and skills needed to teach art. Third, teachers expressed the needs for various in-service education focusing on early childhood art education to help them overcome their difficulties. They wanted to learn more about diverse artistic techniques and creative ways to introduce art to young children. Based on these findings, it is concluded that more professional in-service educational programs focusing on knowledge in early childhood education in general and art education in specific are needed to help teachers provide better quality art education for young children.