Your Brain on Art: Born to Create, Wired to Flourish

Reawaken your creative vitality and reconnect with the force that makes you feel alive, curious, and fully present.

You weren’t always cut off from your creativity.

Before you had words, you were already making meaning.

Through movement, you found rhythm before you knew what dance was.

Through color, sound, or arranging objects, you expressed what you couldn’t yet say.

Somewhere along the way, that instinct went quiet.Life became busy. Practical. Structured.

Creativity became something you admired in others but stopped claiming for yourself – a hobby, a talent for “artistic” people.

The cost of staying disconnected.

Without creativity, life starts to feel flat.You move through your days checking boxes but not quite feeling anything.The spark that once animated you – curiosity, wonder, aliveness – dims.

You might not notice what’s gone until something stops you:A song that stirs something deep.A sunset that steals your breath.A fleeting moment when your body remembers what it was made for.

If you keep pushing creativity aside, the days keep running together. Stress accumulates. Your energy drains. You lose the sense of connection that makes you feel fully alive.

People stopped making art because they felt they weren’t ‘good at it’. It’s not about being proficient at something. It’s the act of doing it that changes the brain and body.

~  Ivy Ross ~

Ivy Ross

Google’s Chief Design Officer of Consumer Devices | Co-Author of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us | Named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business

Ivy Ross brings a rare blend of artistic vision and scientific curiosity to everything she creates. At Google, she leads all design for the company's consumer hardware, combining function with beauty and emotion to create products that feel as good as they look.

Her path has been anything but traditional. A jewelry designer by training, Ivy has held senior creative leadership roles at Calvin Klein, Gap, Mattel, and Disney, always asking: How does what we make shape how we feel?

Her work lives at the intersection of neuroscience, design, and human-centered innovation. She believes creativity is one of the most underutilized medicines in modern life, and she's passionate about helping people reawaken their aesthetic sense in both their inner and outer worlds.

The way in which the arts are reinforced in the brain – through reward, pleasure, and fear circuitry – confirms their link to our survival as a species.

~ Susan Magsamen ~

Susan Magsamen

Founder & Executive Director, International Arts + Mind Lab, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine | Co-Director, NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative | Co-Author of Your Brain on Art: How the Arts Transform Us

Susan has spent her career at the intersection of science, creativity, and human flourishing. As the founder of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, she leads a global coalition of scientists, artists, researchers, and policy-makers working to amplify the impact of the arts on society.

Her mission is both bold and grounded: to make aesthetic experiences and creative practices part of mainstream medicine and public health. As co-director of the NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative, she's helping to build a future where the arts aren't seen as optional enrichment but as essential tools for health and vitality.

Through her writing, research, and immersive learning design, Susan helps people unlock the power of art in practical, life-changing ways.