[4] The Sangre de Cristo Arts and Conference Center opened in 1972, with funding provided by the Economic Development Administration and Pueblo County.

The original two-building complex housed a single gallery, a five hundred seat theater, studio/classroom spaces, a dance studio and a conference/banquet facility.

In 1982, an expansion, funded by Puebloan Helen T. White, added three galleries, a gift shop and a small precursor children's museum.

In 2000, a further expansion added the 12,000 square-foot, two-level Buell Children's Museum and the Jackson Sculpture Garden.

[5][6] The art center features twenty-four new exhibitions a year in the Helen T. White Galleries.