“All children are born artists, the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up.” — Pablo Picasso
 
Pictures I took at the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens when I played Creative Hooky earlier this week |
Here’s the thing about creativity: we all have it.
There are those who make their living as artists, and those who are artists but don’t make a good living and have to waitress on the side, and there are those who apply their creative skills to corporate jobs, and then there’s Martha Stewart and legions of homemakers just as crafty, and there are those who consider themselves “right-brained” and those who consider themselves “left” and those who don’t know what I’m talking about right now. There are those of us who spent $80,000 getting a useless degree at art school and those who didn’t go to school at all and just figured it out, successfully (touché).
But no matter which niche we place ourselves in, we all have the capacity to be creative. Creativity is a state of mind, not a gene. We can choose to squelch it and ignore it, or we can choose to encourage it and cultivate it in ourselves, and in our children. It’s all a matter of priority.
Personally, I think creativity is one of the most important things that define us as humans. And beyond that, creative expression is a powerful experience that everyone should have on a regular basis. We might not all have time to sign up for a weekly watercolor class, but doing something creative doesn’t have to be time consuming. Sometimes, it’s just taking a sec to change your perspective on a situation. Or try a new condiment on your cheeseburger.
So with Creative Truth or Dare—a new project that is so very close to my heart right now—I set out to give people creative assignments that would be do-able for them in their own unique and varying lives. And the response I got was so inspiring. I started this project to try to recoup a little cash lost in a compulsive (but worthwhile) raincoat splurge. But Creative Truth or Dare has quickly turned into something much deeper than a profit venture for me and, hopefully, for those who have participated.
You can visit the Creative Truth or Dare Facebook page to see some examples of things participants have done to fulfill their assignments. Now, keep in mind that a lot of my friends are brilliant, innovative, inspiring, creative artists at heart, so I did get a lot of pretty impressive stuff back. But I also gave assignments to my friends who are busy, single working moms and allegedly “uncreative” corporate 9-5ers. So if you’ve been considering playing Creative Truth or Dare, please don’t let the genius of some of these shares intimidate you. After all, I’m 100% confident that there is a future creative genius inside you too. But just to be sure, I’ll give you something that I promise will work for you right now.
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In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this:
(If you don’t see the above video, go straight to Ted.com.)
I think I have shared this video before, but it’s one of my all-time favorites, a TED Talk by the dashing Sir Ken Robinson, a British educational reformer who champions the cause of creativity in our schools with wit, smarts and debonair. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth the next 20 minutes of your life, I promise.
