A collaborative study of A --> X electronic transitions from CN(A(2)Pi,nu=3,N=60-63) fine-structure A-doublet levels induced by collisions with argon and helium is presented. Experimental state-to-state rate constants were determined with an optical-optical double resonance technique. Specific levels of CN(A(2)Pi,nu=3,N=60-63) were prepared by excitation of the photolytically generated radical with a pulsed dye laser on various rotational lines in the A(2)Pi-X(2)Sigma(+) (3,0) band, and collisionally populated levels in the nu(A) = 3 and the nearly isoenergetic nu(X) = 7 vibronic manifolds were probed after a short delay by laser fluorescence excitation in the B-X (3,7) and B-A (3,3) bands. Final state distributions (relative state-to-state rate constants) are reported for CN(A)-Ar collisions; the rate constants for transitions induced by He were considerably smaller. Absolute total removal rate constants were also determined. A crossing of the A(2)Pi nu=3 F(1)f rotational/fine-structure manifold with the X(2)Sigma(+) nu=7 F-2 levels occurs at J = 62.5. The dependence of A --> X rate constants and the total removal rate constants on the initial level demonstrates the importance of this "gateway" in facilitating collisions between these manifolds. The experimental CN(A)-Ar rate constants have been compared with theoretical rate constants computed in a quantum scattering treatment of the dynamics based on ab initio CN(A,X)-Ar potential energy surfaces. The small non-Born-Oppenheiiner mixing of the A and X states in the isolated CN molecule was also included in the calculations. The computed total removal rates show an enhanced value for the perturbed N = 62 F(1)f initial level, in agreement with experiment, but the computed state-to-state rate constants do not agree well with the experimentally determined values.