Creating Lives: The Possibilities of Human Freedom

The common theme of studies of creative individuals is the search for both individual freedom and social connection. Schooling should help students toward both self-determination and interdependence. This presentation introduces the possibility of reclaiming the opportunity to live as humans evolved to live. For 200,000 years, most of us worked only a quarter of the day for food and shelter. We spent the rest of our time performing those behaviors we evolved to enjoy, including gossiping, playing, telling stories, making things, making love, and altering consciousness. My research on happy families, creative communities, and innovation hubs in Iceland shows how groups of people can choose to support one another’s freedom. Let’s discuss ways to expand liberty in our families, schools, and communities by embracing these primal needs and creating good lives.

Barbara Kerr

Barbara Kerr holds the highest rank in her field as Williamson Distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology and is Co-director of the Center for Creativity and Entrepreneurship at the University of Kansas. One could summarize the goals of her laboratory as centered on the question, “What does it take for people to fulfill their highest potential as humans?” The Counseling Laboratory for the Exploration of Optimal States (CLEOS) team investigates this question at the individual level of abilities, personality, and privilege; at the group level of positive families and schools that optimize freedom; and at the national level by studying societies that support well-being, equality, and creativity. She is an APA Fellow; winner of Torrance Award for Creativity; a founding member of the United States White House Nation of Makers; World Conference on Giftedness, Talent, and Creativity International Scholar award; Visiting Scholar at Monash University in Australia and a Fulbright Arctic Scholar and Fellow. She has authored ten books and over a hundred peer-reviewed articles and papers.