  We present broad-band (U, V, I,and H) and narrow-band(H-alpha+[N II] and
Paschen-alpha) images of the circumnuclear starburst rings in two nearby spiral
galaxies, NGC 1512 and NGC 5248, obtained with WFPC2 and NICMOS on HST.
Combined with HST images at 2300 Ang, these data provide a particularly wide
wavelength range with which to study the properties of the stellar populations,
the gas, and the dust in the rings. Some large (50-pc scale) line emitting
regions have little associated continuum emission, but a Pa equivalent width
indicating a few-Myr-old embedded stellar population. The Ha/Pa intensity
ratios suggest the gas is mixed with dust, making it effective at obscuring
some of the young clusters. We identify about 1000 compact continuum sources
(super star clusters and individual stars) and analyze their spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) from 0.2 to 1.6 micron by fitting them with a grid of
spectral synthesis models with a range of ages and extinctions. Most of the
visible clusters are only mildly reddened, with A_V=0 to 1 mag, suggesting that
the processes that clear out the gas and dust of the stellar birth clouds are
efficient and fast. The patchiness of the dust distribution makes it difficult
to estimate reliably the star formation rate, based on UV continuum slope or
hydrogen emission-line ratios. The cluster SEDs are consistent with a range in
ages, from 1 Myr to 300 Myr, but with only a minority older than a few tens of
Myr. However, after accounting for an age bias, the fraction of old clusters is
consistent with continuous star formation in the rings over the past ~300 Myr.
Some of the brightest young clusters have excess emission in the IR that may be
radiation by circumstellar dust. The cluster mass functions follow an m^-2
power-law distribution, distinct from those of old globular clusters.
