Creativity Studies | www.saybrook.edu

Certificate Program Director: Steven Pritzker, Ph.D.

A complex and fast changing world demands new and creative approaches to everything from corporate strategies to household chores. That's why the importance of understanding and encouraging creativity has been widely recognized in many fields including education, business, health care, government, the arts, and science.

Creativity can be defined as production of an idea or product that is innovative and meaningful. Creativity is about ways we can reach beyond ourselves in our conventional lives, realities, and consciousness, to access deeper ways of knowing and even profound spiritual realizations. There is a vital role for creativity studies in making the most of our self-awareness and furthering our human possibility in an endangered age.

Despite this recognition and the development of over 100 graduate and undergraduate courses in creativity within specific domains, there has been a conspicuous absence of graduate programs where the vast field of creativity research can be studied and expanded.

The certificate in Creativity Studies is designed to fill this gap and meet the growing interest among students in learning more about creativity. The certificate will give students a broad understanding of creativity research and allow them to pursue specific areas of interest.

Examples include:

The Arts - Examining the relationship between creativity and spirituality in professional songwriters
Business and Government - Evaluating if length of service in a business increases or decreases creativity
Education - Looking at teacher training involving creative discovery for self-development and personal and spiritual growth
Health - Evaluating creative journaling and healing
Peace and Conflict Resolution - Helping parents and kids work cooperatively through collaborative expressive arts activities
Psychology - Researching the role of creativity in the therapeutic process

Certificate Requirements

The certificate in Creativity Studies consists of four courses, a practicum, and an integrative paper. Required Courses: CSP 4500, CSP 4510, and two approved electives.

Practicum

The practicum is a special project specifically tied to a research interest of the student. The completed research includes the exploration and documentation of the creation of a professional art project by the artist, a verbal and pictorial investigation of creativity demonstrated by individuals who custom design Harley-Davidson motorcycles, and a first-hand introspective study of incubation in the creative process.

Integrative Final Paper

The purpose of this culminating assignment is to give the learner an opportunity to draw together and integrate the most important aspects of the four courses and the practicum experience, to assess strengths and identify further learning needs, and then to develop a specific plan for continuing personal and professional development in the field of creativity.

Learning Objectives

The six-course requirement in this certificate program will give students a theoretical and practical understanding of the creative process. Key areas will include significant theoretical models, psychological components, sociological implications, factors that encourage or discourage creativity, and creativity applied in particular domains of knowledge or work settings, such as organizations.

Upon completion of this certificate program students will have the skills to:

Delineate their own conceptions about creativity based on the literature and their own experience, including aspects of person, product, press of environment, and different phases of the creative process
Discuss their individual creative process and factors that have stimulated or inhibited their creativity in the past
Discuss potential factors (e.g., personal, social, transpersonal), which might encourage or discourage creativity
Give examples of biological, psychological, and social factors which play a role in (a)what society calls "creative," (b)how creative one can be
Explain differences between creativity in everyday life and eminent creativity
Describe whether creativity has a distinctly different quality in different domains of activity (e.g., arts vs. sciences, personal vs. interpersonal activity, etc.)
Demonstrate knowledge of ways in which questions of interest on creativity have been researched, including qualitative and quantitative methods
Explain several ways in which the student might enhance creativity in his or her own particular area of interest at both the individual and societal level (e.g., schools; health of individuals or societies; creativity for spiritual development)
Teach basic information about creativity to individuals or groups to help them enhance their professional and personal lives
Conduct a theoretical exploration of a particular area of creativity studies, and defend one's approach and conclusions
Know how one would create a peer group oneself for sharing, support, or group activities and projects based upon one's experience in this program and on the Internet
Design, implement and evaluate an application of what has been learned in this certificate in a particular area (e.g., creative teaching of a course, working with clinical clients through poetry, creating an innovative workshop for business, etc.)
Discover new and unexpected things about the nature of creativity and about oneself
Take a creative risk, and have some fun!

Learning/Teaching Approach

The certificate is designed to help students gain an understanding of the important research about creativity and to implement that knowledge in order to accomplish personal and professional goals. Our teaching approach encourages the student to explore personal interests and learn through experience. The student may complete the Creativity Studies certificate in a cohort of learners who work together on the various aspects of the certificate or in an independent study format.

Cohort Format

Learners in the cohort format complete the two required courses together in a virtual classroom, web-based approach. For each required course, this entails reading the assigned texts, spending one hour per week online adding to the cohort conversation, and writing and posting a minimum of one paper on which other cohort members comment.

Independent Study Format

Learners in the independent study format download a syllabus, complete the assigned reading, and write three essays for each course. Elective courses and the practicum are planned with a faculty advisor. The practicum is tailored to the personal and professional needs and interests of the student.

Practicum Presentation

Two-hour Creativity Studies certificate meetings for degree students are held at Saybrook Residential Conferences held in the San Francisco Area in January and June. Creativity Studies students are encouraged to participate in at least one two-hour certificate meeting which will help build connections for possible joint projects, encourage resource sharing and provide peer support. Meetings include a number of short presentations by students as featured presentations by certificate graduates.

The Practical Value of Creativity Studies

Our world is filled with challenges that require creative solutions in the near future. Poverty, hunger, health care, education, and the lack of organizational effectiveness in business and government cry out for fresh thinking. Creativity helps us evolve, individually and as a species. Its many applications in education, clinical work, business and consulting, alternative medicine, personal and spiritual growth are vitally important.

Professionals who complete the Creativity Studies certificate might be the following: consultants and teachers in government, educational, health or business settings; coaching individuals in the arts or business; training director in a corporation or non-profit organization; psychotherapist able to work more creatively with clients; peace and conflict resolution negotiator with skills to help parties find new answers; researcher in science and academia seeking answers to complex questions; artists, writers, musicians or photographers enhancing their own work creativity through an understanding of their process.