Volume 9 No 3 (2011)
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Creativity Revalued How Professors, Students, and an Innovative University are Turning the Tide
Ruth Richards, Judith Kolva Mindy Atkin, Harvey Cheatham, Ruth Crocker, Marta Davidovich Ockuly, Terri Goslin‐Jones, Claire Jones, Stefan J. Kasian, Robert M. Kenny, and Gina Smith
Abstract
Everyone has creativity, and it is central to survival itself; yet many don’t know this.
Furthermore, our human creativity not only keeps us alive but can help us learn what
we are living for. Nonetheless, in our culture, creativity—and especially everyday
creativity, our “originality of everyday life”—often goes under‐recognized,
underdeveloped, and under‐rewarded (the 3 U’s). Here are capacities, indeed a way
of life, that can be both physically and psychologically healing, and not just for
individuals, but for groups, cultures, and our greater environment. At Saybrook
University, we are returning human creativity to its rightful place in the history of
human growth and transformation, through inspired scholarship and dissemination.
This article first describes the beginnings for one creativity scholar and the
challenges of working off the beaten path—along with correction of
misunderstandings about ways creativity contributes to mental health. It then
moves to Saybrook University—a founding school in the crucial “third force”
movement called humanistic psychology—where Dr. Richards fortunately became
professor. Noted too are innovative Saybrook faculty and programs in creativity that
have also pushed the mainstream and inspired Saybrook’s amazing students. It is
our privilege to mentor and encourage them. The contributions of Drs. Stanley
Krippner and Steven R. Pritzker are noted in particular, as well as the burgeoning
Creativity Studies programs including a Certificate program, M.A. degree and,
recently, a Ph.D.—unique offerings in this country. Ways to preserve these advances
and build further on them are mentioned. Last but not least, in the second half of
this presentation, we hear directly from the future—from ten remarkable Saybrook
students or alumni, who tell us, first, about ways in which Saybrook mentorship and
offerings have inspired them, and then, going forth from Saybrook, about ways in
which they are truly changing the world.
Keywords
bipolar disorders, everyday creativity, graduate education, humanistic psychology, mentoring, self‐actualization, Ruth Richards, Stanley Krippner, Steve Pritzker
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