0OCUMENT RESUME

The paucity of meaningful academic experiences for potentially or highly creative individuals prompted researchers and performing artists to meet and discuss the implications for creative opportunities in higher education. A truly creative person is thought to be independent, innovative, flexible, with a highly developed sense of the theoretical and the esthetic, and exercises discipline only when he considers it necessary. A rigidly structured and organized academic system invariably discourages self-expression. Consequently, a number of students transfer from or drop out of educational systems too formalized for their tastes. Unfortunately, academe generally assumes that educational needs of all unusual students are met in programs designed for the gifted or exceptional, and many creative individuals who do not meet necessary academic requirements are excluded or ignored. Many questions were raised to which answers could not be provided but participants agreed that very little research has been done on creativity at the college level, except in the creative arts. The task ahead involves learning about the nature and forms of creativity, establishing whether it is innate or may be developed. Then programs should focus on quality education for the total human being, and be flexible enough to stimulate and encourage creative expression. A bibliography of related publications is included. (WM