This study used drawing tasks to examine the similarities and differences between females and males who shared a collective traumatic event in early childhood. Could these childhood memories be recorded, measured, and compared for gender differences in drawings by young adults who had shared a similar experience as children? Exploration of this question drove this qualitative research project to examine drawings by young Kuwaiti men and women, who were residents in Kuwait during the 1990 Saddam‐Hussein‐led Iraqi invasion of their country. Visual results from this study show colour, image and symbol (CIS) patterns, and differences in gender images in drawings which represent a select population's response to the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.