The Center for Graphic Facilitation

The Unleashed Mind: Why Creative People Are Eccentric

From Scientific American | Mind:

Highly creative people often seem weirder than the rest of us. Now researchers know why.

In brief:

• People who are highly creative often have odd thoughts and behaviors—and vice versa.
• Both creativity and eccentricity may be the result of genetic variations that increase cognitive disinhibition—the brain’s failure to filter out extraneous information.
• When unfiltered information reaches conscious awareness in the brains of people who are highly intelligent and can process this information without being overwhelmed, it may lead to exceptional insights and sensations.

READ FULL ARTICLE>>

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Temple Grandin's TED Talk: "The world needs all kinds of minds!"

Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works -- sharing her ability to "think in pictures," which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.

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ThinkShop's Online Creative Thinking Workshop

(from Michelle Conrad of thinkshop.com)

Hosts:  ThinkShop Co-Founders Chris Fagan and Michelle Conrad facilitate live classes each week

Dates:  5 Wednesdays from June 22nd to July 20

Time:  12:00 pm – 1:30 pm EST (11:00 am – 12:30 pm CST, 9:00 am – 10:30 am PST)

Format:  Interactive and visually rich online meetings are backed up by provocative homeplay assignments, an extensive manual loaded with creative exercises, and two drop-in calls where you can ask questions and learn from others in the Create On Purpose community.

Our early registration ends this Friday and the class begins on June 22nd.

Learn about the course: http://wp.me/pwprt-CY
Sign up: http://thinkshop.eventbrite.com

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The World's Last Hand-written Newspaper

From Lynn Kearny:

I thought members of this community would be charmed and intrigued by this 3-generation crusade to establish and maintain a newspaper put out every day using hand calligraphy. This is just one more face of what we do.

The last handwritten newspaper in the world: 

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Sketchnotes from 99% Conference

(via @Ottmark)

Last week at The 99% Conference in NYC on creativity and productivity, Nashville-based media strategist Mark Ott spotted some folks in the crowd producing sketchnotes.

Turns out, he had spotted the talented folks from ImageThink. 

As they describe it...

Sketchnotes use the same real-time skill of listening, synthesizing, and visualizing as graphic recording. The difference is that, with Sketchnotes, this process happens in a sketchbook rather than on a large scale where the audience experiences the process live.  In both cases, the results live on digitally. 

Check out their work from the conference at http://www.blog.imagethink.net/

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Arts as Healing

PHOTO: Dee Jacobs, Mary Collins, David Binks, Vicki Friedman, Lynn Sanderson

From Washington University in St. Louis:

A group of adults meets regularly in a room at the Center for Advanced Medicine (CAM) at Washington University Medical Center to learn how to shade with charcoals, master watercolor strokes, and mold and shape clay. These students may be rediscovering art after many years or learning techniques for the first time. But they also share another common bond — battling cancer.

To learn more about the Arts as Healing program and to view additional patient art, visit outlook.wustl.edu/2011/feb/arts.

Do you have a story of how graphic facilitation has helped individuals and communities heal?
Post in the comments below.

Posted via email from The Center for Graphic Facilitation

ChangeViz Comic 01

(via Xplane)

Geek Interpreter Guy comes to the rescue and saves Mr. Projecto's change initiative from the brink of disaster. This comic introduces ChangeViz, a group facilitation approach that uses Visual Thinking and Gamestorming processes to support Change Management.