The Dr Barbara Piscitelli AM Children’s Art Archive 1986-2016; 2020 comprises more than 2000 works by children aged between 12 months to 12 years, from Queensland, Vietnam and China. Most drawings and paintings are from Queensland children and depict their social worlds, human rights and futures. It is the single most comprehensive and significant resource for the study of children’s art making and associated methodologies in Australia. It has enabled scholars to better understand the role of children as social actors and cultural citizens on an unparalleled scale.

The artworks and preparatory materials have been systematically collated and documented over 30 years, and organised into 15 distinct projects. The Archive is of international standing and has been exhibited at the UCCA Beijing, Cairns Indigenous Art Fair, and Vietnam Museum of Fine Art in Hanoi. Images from the collection were used to support the significant 2018 UNICEF publication, The Children's Report – Australia’s NGO coalition report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. The Archive demonstrates Australia’s transnational ties and represents children in marginalised and overlooked communities, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Children’s artworks are rarely afforded the same merit as that of their professionalised adult counterparts. While there is a breadth of research into the meaning, construction and the importance of children’s art, there are no existing examples where varying pedagogical methodologies and thematic tethers are tied to one archive that spans such a significant period of time – an archive that is readily accessible to any scholar wanting to engage. The State Library of Queensland recognises the importance and value of children’s work through the digitisation of the artworks, detailed description of each image, and exhibition and engagement program.