This study asks, what strategies do curators as design thinkers use to foster social engagement in art exhibitions? Through examinations of the curatorial strategies in two case studies: A Mile in My Shoes, curated by Clare Patey (2015) at the Empathy Museum in London, and Boxed, curated by Sheila Sampath (2017) at The Public Studio in Toronto, I portray five curatorial tactics gleaned from secondary source research and first-person interviews with the curators. Drawn from Ezio Manzini’s five concepts on social engagement and from Tim Brown’s conceptual modes of Design Thinking, I argue that a balance of relational intensity between all participants enables empathy; participation is a refusal of the curator’s authority; participants’ openness to the lives of others enriches the participatory experience; embodied experiences produce empathy in participants; and iterative space produces participants’ own sustainable stories as art. Design thinking in curatorial praxis is a catalyst for social change.