Frank Barron and the Study of Creativity: A Voice That Lives on

The late Frank X. Barron was a remarkable figure in psychology. His monograph, “The Psychology of Creativity,” appeared in New Directions in Psychology at a time when the study of creativity was still new and not well understood. Throughout several decades, Dr. Barron not only helped bring the field of creativity to a high degree of sophistication, but this wide-ranging thinker and researcher changed in significant ways how we think about exceptionality, human purpose, process and personal evolution, and self as part of an evolving whole. Here, through one researcher’s eyes, are contributions in four diverse areas and how they have helped change the way we see the world today: (a) creativity as a way of life and everyday event; (b) creativity and mental health (or is it unhealth?); (c) creativity, complexity, and the health of dynamical systems; and (d) creativity as a source of beauty, awe, and openness to greater meaning