Can You Teach Creativity?

People ask me, “Can you really teach creativity?” I think they ask this because I teach creativity. And, I guess, they don’t think I really can.

Here's my answer:

Are there things I could say to you, resources that I could deny you, a dreary place I could put you, and mean people I could surround you with that would make you less creative? Of course, there are. That’s what life does to us.

Well, here’s what I can teach: I can teach you to stop saying and doing those things. And if you stop saying and doing those things to people (including the person in the mirror), they (and you) will naturally return to creativity.

"Every child is a prodigy until told otherwise."
I think Picasso said that. You were once a child, so this goes for you, too...

You can return to the prodigy you once were, simply by changing the way you talk to yourself. Once we stop hindering our creativity, we become more creative. So, I'm not only teaching people how to become more creative. I'm also teaching people how to teach creativity. I'm especially teaching people how to teach themselves to be more creative.

How Teaching Creativity Is Like Town Planning
Teaching creativity is like improving our inner cities through a return to traditional town planning. If we simply return to several basic principles, we will evolve back to better public space, providing a better home for a friendly communal experience. Creativity is the same way. Just shift the priorities -- and return to a more creative life.

For a great introduction New Urbanism and town planning by James Howard Kuntsler, enjoy Home from Nowhere: Remaking Our Everyday World for the 21st Century. To have me talk about creativity to your audience, click here.