[5] In 1981, San Francisco Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver searched unsuccessfully for a Mandarin-English school where she could enroll her adopted Taiwanese son.

She decided to start her own with the help of district attorney Mimi Luk, Justice Harry Low,[6] Bernard Ivaldi (then Head of the French American International School), Maurice Tseng, Yvon d'Argence (then curator of the Asian Art Museum, Joe Chen, Mike Chiu, Donna Furth, Diana Chan, Francisco Hsieh, George Cheng, and Alice Carnes.

Shirley Lee, a faculty member of the Chinese department at San Francisco State University joined as founding teacher and principal, and remained head of school until her retirement in 2000.

[8] In 1997 CAIS moved into its campus at 150 Oak St, the former Caltrans headquarters,[9] in partnership with the French American International School.

"[citation needed] In 2004, CAIS was awarded the Goldman Sachs Prize for Excellence in International Education.