A selective colored LED includes a light emitting area epitaxially grown on a first cladding layer, and a second cladding layer epitaxially grown on the light emitting area. The light emitting area includes at least one thin single crystal layer of rare earth material having at least one radiative transition producing a radiation wavelength of a selected color. The first cladding layer is positioned on a first mirror stack, with pairs of mirrors having an effective thickness of at least one half wavelength of the selected color, and a second mirror stack is positioned on the second cladding layer. Generally, the color of the LED is determined by selecting a rare earth with a radiative transition producing a radiation wavelength at the selected color. In cases where the rare earth has more than one radiative transition, tuned mirrors can be used to select the desired color.