Giftedness, Creativity, and Human Possibility

In this talk I will examine the intersections between giftedness and creativity from a sociocultural perspective. this perspective encourages us to understand the gifted individual in his or her context, as a person whose creative predispositions require a welcoming environment in order to flourish. As such, creative expression is best understood at the encounter between person and world rather than within either of the two taken separately. This approach not only helps us transgress important dichotomies between self and other, psychological and material, creative and noncreative that are equally structuring these literatures, but also calls to our attention the fact that giftedness and creativity alike are phenomena that ultimately expand the space of the possible. At its core, creative giftedness reveals a heightened awareness of what is possible for thought and action and a capacity to explore various such possibilities. I will argue here that both the awareness and exploration of the possible are not rooted in individual-level characteristics as much as in those actions and interactions that open gifted individuals to the world, to other people, and to the future. Implications of this sociocultural framework for the assessment and cultivation and giftedness are offered towards the end.