The present invention provides a system and method for creating and manipulating one or more color-coded magnetic resonance images. The method includes acquiring a digitally-stored first gray tone series of images of a region of interest at a first predetermined time on a predetermined plane using a predetermined pulse sequence parameter, and applying a first color mask to the first gray tone series of images to create a first color masked series of images, wherein the first color masked series of images represent a first state of a biophysical property of interest. The method also includes acquiring a digitally-stored second gray tone series of images of the region of interest at a second predetermined time on the predetermined plane using the predetermined pulse sequence parameter, wherein the second predetermined time is subsequent to the first predetermined time, and applying a second color mask to the second gray tone series of images to create a second color masked series of images, wherein the second color masked series of images represent a second state of the biophysical property of interest. The method further includes spatially-aligning and combining the first color masked series of images and the second color masked series of images to create one or more full color images.