The Computer Animation Lab, which serves as both a teaching and a production lab, is a major resource for educating students from throughout the Institute in the art of 3D computer graphic animation. Students gaining access to the lab come from a wide range of programs within the various schools at CalArts. The majority are drawn from the Program in Experimental Animation and the Program in Character Animation of the School of Film/Video and thus are able to apply the extensive animation knowledge gained in their core programs to the particular concepts, tools, and techniques learned in the Computer Animation Lab.

The primary image in the header is from Sunstone, a film by Ed Emshwiller, founder of the CalArts Computer Animation Lab and Dean of the School of Film/Video from 1979 to 1990. Stills are taken from the work of faculty, students, and alums of the CalArts Computer Animation Lab and may be found in the Gallery.