I needed three credit hours in my final semester of college, and so I took one three-hour course: The Creative Process. A number of my friends had taken it and loved it. It was the equivalent of basket-weaving and left plenty of time for me to pursue other important college activities.

The class was aimed at kids who had been brow-beaten into following the party line--whatever that might be. The notion that we were free to think for ourselves and try out whatever weird idea suited us didn't seem to have occurred to most of my classmates. We dabbled in a bunch of new age nonsense, journaled a lot and "explored our feelings." I found the class to be silly, and I didn't take it at all seriously. Some of my friends found it to be the most profound course they took in college. Vive la difference.

The thing is, people are born creative. One of the things that has made humanity so successful is the ability to adapt to a wide variety of situations and circumstances. There are billions of people on Earth. There are no other large (or even medium-sized) mammals whose numbers remotely approach those of humans.

And yet the best-seller lists are full of books that tout the latest method of "thinking out-of-the-box." My father-in-law is a business professor, and he swears by this stuff. I guess if you've had the creative impulses beaten out of you, then you need something. Or maybe you just need to find the something that unlocks your mind.

My son Max was never much of a doodler. He didn't draw pictures and he didn't even scribble much. His friends would come over and want to draw. They could draw themselves, their families...pretty much whatever they wanted. Max would scribble for a minute or two and quit. He liked pens, crayons and paint, but not drawing or painting.

One of his few early pen-and-paper (or, in this case, paint-and-paper) inspirations was a large circle bisected by scores of lines. It looks like a bicycle wheel designed by Dali. He called it "The Beltway."

It is brilliant, actually, and not just because it is a beautifully-rendered personal vision of the Beltway. It's brilliant because just about everyone who looks at it asks, "Is that the Beltway?" Something in that picture speaks to people, and they can see what Max saw when he painted it.

Max discovered his true artistic passion, however, when my wife left out a few pipe cleaners. He went nuts with them, twisting them into shapes and scenes that were something of a cross between pictures and sculptures. Turns out that Max is a mixed media kind of guy.

He has since moved on to construction paper and glue and other materials, though pipe cleaners remain a primal influence. He makes hats, horns, rockets, airplanes, cars, animals--just about anything that can be crafted. And once he discovered cutting and pasting, he also started drawing in earnest. He has built up quite the collection.

A while back, he visited one of the art museums downtown. When he got back, he decided to make his room a museum. Thus, we are now home to Max's Muzom ov Art and Hes Old Toys.

These days, Max spells museum "muzeum," but he's had a month to improve his spelling. As for the old toys, well, I'm not sure what that's all about. Though it is funny.

And it is a museum. Max has plastered his creations on his bed, bookshelves and walls. Like most kids, Max's art reflects who he is. To walk into Max's room is to know him.

Max's younger brother Sam isn't much for crafts. He has preschool twice a week, and every day there is a craft project. Sam has done three or four since last September, and he did at least one of those because my wife was co-oping that day and she insisted. Sam's not necessarily opposed to crafts or drawing, but he doesn't seem to have the patience. Or, perhaps, he simply hasn't discovered his metier.

Most adults prefer to ponder only what they think is possible, eliminating what they believe to be impossible. Maybe I simply have a much wider definition of "possible," but I've never found it difficult to "think out of the box." I've never been in a box. And the older I get, the more possibilities I see. I feel like my thinking is ranging farther and farther every day. Kids may be innately creative, but they simply are not experienced enough to see everything that life offers. Their creativity is limited to their experiences, though it can often take on some freaky forms of expression.

Interestingly, Max's most creative act might be the "muzom." He created something new by taking an old idea and recasting it in his own vision. That's also the story of human civilization, building on the past brick by brick.

At least seven cities were built upon the site of ancient Troy. When one was destroyed, people built another. And another. That vision, that capacity for creative thought, is what has driven human progress. And as long as our children have it, everything is gonna be alright.

Jon Worley isn't a starry-eyed optimist, but doesn't mind slipping into that jacket now and again.