There are a few ways living things can be created in laboratories. The easier way is to simply breed something. Scientists often use fruit flies for experiments, and since it's tough to catch thousands of these things in the wild, they grow their own. Really they are just letting them breed in a controlled space, but you could say these living things are being created in a laboratory.
Bacteria and other single celled organisms are also created in laboratories, but it is a very similar method to the creation of fruit flies, they pretty much just let them grow on their own. Of course depending on the experiment and the type of bacteria they setup specific environments for the bacteria to grow in. Scientists have had a very tough time with bacteria and other single celled organisms, for one they seem to not want to grow in captivity as they would normally grow in the wild. You can probably say this is due to our lack of understanding, but that doesn't change the fact the these single celled organisms just don't seem to want to cooperate
People can be created in laboratories as well, not quite the science fiction creations we see in the movies, but we do create what are often called test tube babies. Again this is really nothing more than allowing natures to run its course in a controlled environment. Humans provide the egg and sperm and the laboratory creates a false womb environment. This has been a very successful method (although expensive as well) for people who are having difficulty naturally creating a baby naturally.
There are other examples that I could give and probably many more that are not known to the general public, especially if you like conspiracy theories. All these methods have one thing in common, and that is that any life created in any manner is grown.
Here's an article you may enjoy. Some people are trying to create something alive out of only non-living chemicals, some will call this playing God, and some will say its progress. We have yet to be successful in our endeavors of making life out of non-living things.
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1996/09.12/CreatingLifeina.html
