Natural Creativity (NC) is an educational initiative committed to a model that has demonstrated success in enabling young people to develop a foundation for life-long learning that promotes self-direction, constructive purpose and personal fulfillment, within a commitment to social equity. It is non-profit organization designed to implement, evaluate and expand access to creative learning for meaningful social engagement today and career readiness in the future. The Natural Creativity Center (NCC) is a place where young people, aged 4-18, come, as part of their homeschooling plan, 1-5 days per week; the facilitators, materials, and experiences available at NCC represent key resources for young people to direct their development. NCC offers programming Monday through Friday, from 9-3 (with early morning and extended day options available), that combines self-directed learning experiences within a community of peers with games and activities that facilitate conceptual development, creative intelligence, and social responsibility. Programs build on the innate human drive to learn through hands-on, experiential games and activities that value process over products, the spirit of playfulness and creativity, and that facilitate the development of conflict resolution skills, such as non-violent communication, empathy, and creative problem-solving. Young people, aged 4-18, can attend NCC 1-5 days per week, prior to beginning school or instead of it, while families are invited to receive various services provided by NCC, including portfolio evaluation, problem solving sessions, and information sessions regarding access to community services to support family goals and needs. NCC also provides vision and hearing screenings as vision and hearing problems are often not diagnosed, and can negatively impact one’s capacity to learn. For young people aged 14-18, NCC will serve as a “home base” and coordinating entity for work in the community, including youth participatory action research, internships, and self-directed entrepreneurial ventures. Working with individual teens and their families, NCC will facilitate the co-construction of a course of study that is driven by personal interests, short and long term goals, and sense of belonging within a given community. For example, a young person with an interest in filmmaking and desire to attend college might develop a course of study that includes research on different filmmakers, techniques, scriptwriting, and work with a group of teens around issues of poverty in the community, culminating in a longitudinal research project on the causes and consequences of poverty in the young person’s neighborhood. For this research project, the teen might convert local interviews into a documentary film. Along the way, NCC facilitators will work with the young person to maintain a portfolio and prepare for college admission, including supporting academic progress and preparation for required tests.
