Let $\Omega $ be a bounded $C^2$ domain in $R^n$ and $\phi : \partial \Omega \to \mathbb{R}^m$ be a continuous map. The Dirichlet problem for the minimal surface system asks whether there exists a Lipschitz map $f : \Omega \to \mathbb{R}^m$ with $ f |_{\partial \Omega}$ and with the graph of $f$ a minimal submanifold in $R^{n+m}$. For $m = 1$, the Dirichlet problem was solved more than thirty years ago by Jenkins-Serrin [13] for any mean convex domains and the solutions are all smooth. This paper considers the Dirichlet problem for convex domains in arbitrary codimension $m$. We prove if $\psi : \bar{\Omega} \to \mathbb{R}^m$ satisfies $8n\delta sup_{\Omega}||D^2 \psi| + \sqrt{2} sup_{\partial \Omega} |D\psi| <1$, then the Dirichlet problem for $ \psi |_{\partial \Omega}$ is solvable in smooth maps. Here $\delta$ is the diameter of $\Omega$
. Such a condition is necessary in view of an example of Lawson-Osserman [15]. In order to prove this result, we study the associated parabolic system and solve the Cauchy-Dirichlet problem with $\psi$ as initial data.