Nancy Andreasen's Secrets of the Creative Brain article in The Atlantic (http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/06/secrets-of-the-creative-brain/372299/) was widely posted on Twitter this week. Dr. Andreasen is one of our most respected creativity researchers, with expertise in creative writing, psychology, and neuroscience.
By her own admission, Andreasen studies what she calls Big C creativity - the processes and products of our most distinguished creative geniuses. This is in contrast to Little C creativity, which might be described as the creativity inherent in all of us. Andreasen is also unusual in the field in that she writes extensively about the role of mental illness in creativity. This article delves into that topic, and interested readers can find an even more thorough treatment of the subject in Andreasen's The Creative Brain: The Science of Genius.
As a fine arts educator, I am skeptical about making a qualitative distinction between Big C and Little C. I'd like to think that creativity lives on a spectrum, and that Big C geniuses are simply better at creativity than average people. I am sympathetic to Sir Ken Robinson's contention that creativity is the exclusive province of neither special people (such as geniuses), nor special activities (e.g., the arts). I'd also like to believe that educators can enhance creativity without bringing on mental illness.
I am concerned that by focusing on genius and insanity as creative necessities, we reinforce the Muse myth. In The Myths of Creativity: The Truth About How Innovative Companies and People Generate Great Ideas, David Burkus disabuses us of many traditional notions about creativity, including the divine inspiration myth. While I am aware that creative geniuses often describe their process as something like an out-of-body experience, I am reminded of the quip that artists are never more creative than when they are writing their autobiographies.
So, what can fine arts educators learn from Andreasen's work? To be fair, The Creative Brain includes a chapter called "Building Better Brains," and musical study is included in her recommendations. While Andreasen is focused on Big C, she is also aware that education can improve Little C. In Secrets of the Creative Brain, Andreasen also asserts that "creative people are better at recognizing relationships, making associations and connections, and seeing things in an original way - seeking things that others cannot see."
Fine arts education can enhance these abilities. Effective arts instruction develops imagination. It teaches the elaboration of ideas. It requires persistent problem solving. It can focus students on those things that Andreasen finds essential to creativity - relationships, associations, connections, and originality.
By all means, let's study and celebrate our creative geniuses. But we do our students and our society a great disservice when we paint a picture of creativity that requires muses and mental illness. We can teach creativity, and we must teach creativity.
References:
Andreasen, N. (2005). The creative brain: The science of genius. New York, NY: Plume Books
Andreasen, N. (June 25, 2014). Secrets of the Creative Brain. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/06/secrets-of-the-creative-brain/372299/
Burkus, D. (2013). The myths of creativity: The truth about how innovative companies and people generate great ideas. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Robinson, K. (2011). Out of our minds: Learning to be creative. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Capstone Publishing.
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