diff --git a/pkg/engine/engine.go b/pkg/engine/engine.go
index cb88088e6..73b8dabad 100644
--- a/pkg/engine/engine.go
+++ b/pkg/engine/engine.go
@@ -88,6 +88,28 @@ type renderable struct {
 	vals chartutil.Values
 }
 
+// alterFuncMap takes the Engine's FuncMap and adds context-specific functions.
+//
+// The resulting FuncMap is only valid for the passed-in template.
+func (e *Engine) alterFuncMap(t *template.Template) template.FuncMap {
+	// Clone the func map because we are adding context-specific functions.
+	var funcMap template.FuncMap = map[string]interface{}{}
+	for k, v := range e.FuncMap {
+		funcMap[k] = v
+	}
+
+	// Add the 'include' function here so we can close over t.
+	funcMap["include"] = func(name string, data interface{}) string {
+		buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+		if err := t.ExecuteTemplate(buf, name, data); err != nil {
+			buf.WriteString(err.Error())
+		}
+		return buf.String()
+	}
+
+	return funcMap
+}
+
 // render takes a map of templates/values and renders them.
 func (e *Engine) render(tpls map[string]renderable) (map[string]string, error) {
 	// Basically, what we do here is start with an empty parent template and then
@@ -105,10 +127,13 @@ func (e *Engine) render(tpls map[string]renderable) (map[string]string, error) {
 		// but will still emit <no value> for others. We mitigate that later.
 		t.Option("missingkey=zero")
 	}
+
+	funcMap := e.alterFuncMap(t)
+
 	files := []string{}
 	for fname, r := range tpls {
 		log.Printf("Preparing template %s", fname)
-		t = t.New(fname).Funcs(e.FuncMap)
+		t = t.New(fname).Funcs(funcMap)
 		if _, err := t.Parse(r.tpl); err != nil {
 			return map[string]string{}, fmt.Errorf("parse error in %q: %s", fname, err)
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/engine/engine_test.go b/pkg/engine/engine_test.go
index 03ee083dc..f680d2053 100644
--- a/pkg/engine/engine_test.go
+++ b/pkg/engine/engine_test.go
@@ -358,3 +358,33 @@ func TestRenderBuiltinValues(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 }
+
+func TestAlterFuncMap(t *testing.T) {
+	c := &chart.Chart{
+		Metadata: &chart.Metadata{Name: "conrad"},
+		Templates: []*chart.Template{
+			{Name: "quote", Data: []byte(`{{include "conrad/_partial" . | indent 2}} dead.`)},
+			{Name: "_partial", Data: []byte(`{{.Release.Name}} - he`)},
+		},
+		Values:       &chart.Config{Raw: ``},
+		Dependencies: []*chart.Chart{},
+	}
+
+	v := chartutil.Values{
+		"Values": &chart.Config{Raw: ""},
+		"Chart":  c.Metadata,
+		"Release": chartutil.Values{
+			"Name": "Mistah Kurtz",
+		},
+	}
+
+	out, err := New().Render(c, v)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	expect := "  Mistah Kurtz - he dead."
+	if got := out["conrad/quote"]; got != expect {
+		t.Errorf("Expected %q, got %q (%v)", expect, got, out)
+	}
+}