For the Kids : LEARNING : California ‘Fame’ : Budding artists, filmmakers and others have the chance to study the arts during a special monthlong summer program.

Ventura High School senior Yarrow Cheney sleeps with pictures of Walt Disney over his bed and dreams of becoming a motion picture animator.

When he was picked last summer to attend the California State Summer School for the Arts, it was a chance to study art and animation day and night, even on Saturdays.

“It was an incredible experience,” he said recently. “I was surrounded by people serious about art.”

The monthlong summer school is California’s version of the movie “Fame.” It’s a haven for young artists, filmmakers, actors, musicians, sculptors, singers and writers. In the last five years, 37 Ventura County high school students have attended the program, which is paid for with state funds and private donations.

CSSSA is now accepting applications from around the state for the coming summer program, which runs July 11 to Aug. 8. The deadline for applications is Feb. 28.

This summer, the school will be held at CalArts in Valencia. Students live in dorms and take classes from recognized professionals who often become mentors for them.

The cost is $1,100, but full and partial scholarships are available. In fact, in the five years the program has been offered, nearly half of the students have received some level of financial aid.

This year, program officials expect 900 to 1,000 applicants. About 400 will be accepted, and Cheney hopes that he will be one of them again.

Lanky and soft-spoken, Cheney can’t remember a time when he wasn’t drawing or painting. The oldest of five children, he comes from an artistic family. His father, Jack, is an art therapist at Camarillo State Hospital. His mother, Caryn, is director of the Star Garden Family Theater, a group of families that banded together to put on musical productions. In the family’s Oak View home, his grandmother’s paintings hang on the wall.

Cheney’s goal after graduation is to attend CalArts, which is famous for its animation program. But his artistic efforts go beyond drawing cartoon figures.

He paints portraits in oil at a bench in the garage.

He recently had a showing of his work at Ventura High School and in March, a coffeehouse in Ventura featured his work.

He is a regular entrant at the Ventura County Fair.

Last year, he started an underground student newspaper, “The Art of Being a Student,” which changed its name this year to “The Paper.” Cheney illustrates the stories, poems and letters to the editor.

He also paints sets for the Star Garden Family Theater, performs with the group, volunteers at the Humane Society in Ojai and at Camarillo State Hospital, and serves as chairman for Ventura High School’s Friday Night Live, a club for kids against drugs.

His schedule is so jammed with activities that he is listed this year in “Who’s Who in American Students.” He still found time last year to ride his bike in the Sea to Summit bike-a-thon, a 100-mile trek from the ocean to the summit of Mt. Pinos.

He says he loves all the Walt Disney animated movies, especially the recent “Beauty and the Beast.”

“The characters were really real, and the special effects were superior,” he said. He hopes that by attending CalArts, he can follow in the footsteps of animators who have gone to work for Disney.

His only art training has been in classes at Ventura High School. At the CSSSA school last year, he signed up for as many classes as he could, day and night.

“I met people I will know the rest of my life,” he said.

Those students who complete the four-week session will receive three units of California State University course credit. Applicants must submit portfolios, and audio or videotapes to demonstrate their abilities, as well as answer questions and write essays.

Applicants must be high school students, but grades are not considered.

“A lot of the kids are not doing that well academically in school,” said Marci Davey, deputy director of CSSSA. But after the summer school, she said, many return to school with a vision and do better.

“There is so much energy, it’s really amazing,” said Davey, who has lived at the dorm during the school. “You see young ladies leaping through the air, others lying on the floor drawing or writing poetry, and someone composing on the piano.”

In addition to classes, CSSSA schedules performances by noted professionals. Coming this summer are the Kronos Quartet, known for its contemporary chamber music; Calvin Remsberg, a tenor performing in Los Angeles in “Phantom of the Opera,” and Honi Coles, one of the best-known tap dancers in the country.

“The school is an opportunity to spend every moment learning what it’s like to make a living as a musician, sculptor, dancer, whatever,” Davey said.

* FYI: Application forms for the California State Summer School for the Arts should be available at all high schools in Ventura County. The application deadline is Feb. 28. The cost is $1,100. The school runs July 11 through Aug. 8. For information, call (916) 445-8919.