Throughout history, we’ve seen the power of creativity help people heal and connect, from cave drawings to the Renaissance and on to wherever digital technologies will take us next. Why is it that we as humans can’t help but imagine, innovate and express? The latest research on the science of creativity holds the answers.
A 2015 report from the National Endowment for the Arts explored the complex effects of creativity inside the brain. “Neuroscientists are laying groundwork to explain how and why people can connect so powerfully with the arts,” stated the authors.
“To create one’s own world takes courage.”
Georgia O’keeffe
Studies show that creativity is good for you—mind, body and soul. Benefits include shorter hospital stays, better pain management and mental health, and less medication.
Hospitals and other care facilities have begun to incorporate creativity research into their design. Paintings and plants adorn hospital rooms, and nurses and doctors are encouraged to include art therapy and other creative outlets in their treatment. Art also inspires caring.
The evolution doesn’t surprise forerunner Dr. Cindy Perlis, director of the UCSF Art for Recovery program. She worked during the height of the AIDS crisis. Empathy and human connection are powerful healers.
“I was told to wear a gown, gloves and mask. I would sit on their bed and ask them to express their anger, fears, hopes and dreams. They’d put down on paper all the emotions that they couldn’t articulate. And I’d hold their hand, because no one was touching them,” said Perlis. “The experience made me realize that, as an artist, this is where I needed to be.”
UCSF’s Dr. Teresa Allison says the somewhat mystical connection between art and healing has begun to move to the center of traditional research. “Now we’re starting to ask why, and to bring in the science to study art’s impact,” Allison said. “National funding agencies are starting to support this, and we’re going to see a lot of research emerge in upcoming years.”
Creativity is also a gateway to diversity. Despite our differences, we all experience arts benefits. We all benefit from unlocking our own creativity. We all can imagine. Each culture can elevate its story, its need, its part of the community fabric. In these expressions, connections are built.
“Would you like to meet people who are engaged in their communities, tolerant of others’ differences, and more willing than most to help out those in need?” asks writer Tom Jacobs. “Try a concert hall, theater lobby, or art museum.”
He cites new research by the University of Illinois at Chicago that found “people who regularly attend arts events are more likely to embody the aforementioned qualities, even after taking into account such variables as age, race and education.”
Through continued innovation, collaboration and exploration, we can find and fund those future opportunities. Throughout this theme we will be on the lookout for breakthrough research on how art and the creative process foster empathy and personal transformation. We’ll elevate projects applying the latest science about creativity to unlock benefits for people and communities.
RESOURCES
National Endowment for the Arts. “Creativity and Aging Fact Sheet.”
National Endowment for the Arts. “How Creativity Works in the Brain.”
Photo credits:
Lumière II by Robert Henke (Gray Area for the Arts, 2015)