Small CdSe semiconductor nanocrystals with diameters below 2 nm are thought to emit white light due to random surface defects which result in a broad distribution of midgap emitting states, thereby preventing rational design of small nanocrystal white light emitters. We perform temperature dependent photoluminescence experiments before and after ligand exchange and electron transfer simulations to reveal a very simple microscopic picture of the origin of the white light. These experiments and simulations reveal that these small nanocrystals can be physically modeled in precisely the same way as normal-sized semiconductor nanocrystals; differences in their emission spectra arise from their surface thermodynamics. The white light emission is thus a consequence of the thermodynamic relationship between a core excitonic state and an optically bright surface state with good quantum yield. By virtue of this understanding of the surface and the manner in which it is coupled to the core excitonic states of these nanocrystals, we show both chemical and thermodynamic control of the photoluminescence spectra. We find that using both temperature and appropriate choice in ligands, one can rationally control the spectra so as to engineer the surface to target color rendering coordinates for displays and white light emitters.