Refregier was a faculty member and Chairman of the Board at the American Artists School from 1937—1938. Refregier began to gain notoriety in his field, and so was given the opportunity to choose between two assignments for his first WPA—Federal Art Project. He was given the choice of painting a mural in a courthouse, or in the children's ward of a hospital. Refregier chose the latter, because did not want the pressure inherent in designing public artwork for a courthouse. He was assigned to the children's ward mural project at Green Point Hospital, in Brooklyn. The project took a little over a year to complete, and involved five other contributing artists.