About CCA
The Creativity Coaching Association (CCA) is a professional organization dedicated to enhancing and supporting the work of all kinds of artists through connection with and development of certified professional creativity coaches.
☆ Creativity Coaching Training ☆
&
Creativity Coaching Certification Program
Founded in 2005, the CCA completes its 18th year of service as the premier Creativity Coaching Training and Certification Program, having trained hundreds of dedicated, talented coaches worldwide to specifically serve the unique interests of creative thinkers from all walks of life. All classes are conducted via teleconference and phone, making the training accessible worldwide.
The Creativity Coaching Association's comprehensive certification program has been developed to answer the needs of a growing cadre of people desiring to learn the skills of creativity coaching.
The program consists of four different training courses, supervised one-on-one coaching sessions, moderated peer coaching, and a guided reading segment to ensure candidates have a solid background in the literature of creativity.
Specifically, CCA goals include the following:
-To provide information and services for people who want to become creativity coaches and those who want to hire them.
-To disseminate information about creativity coaching so our work becomes more well known and sought after among artists, writers, inventors, corporations, and other potential client businesses and organizations.
-To research, collect, develop, and share specific marketing ideas and techniques that help member-coaches build their business and get clients.
-To build and publicize a web presence that attracts the general public to learn about what coaches can do for them and where they can contact a specific coach to hire.
-To be a centralized locus that collects information about workshops, tele-classes, trainings, seminars, books, and e-books that member-coaches are offering and helps announce and advertise these to the public.
-To seek out opportunities for corporate sponsorships for creativity events and workshops that assist the general public.
☆ Membership-Based Community of Creativity Coaches☆
The Creativity Coaching Association has a membership-based community of hundreds of creativity coaches worldwide who are dedicated to promoting creativity and creative work. The CCA is dedicated to linking professionally trained creativity coaches with those who work creatively to enhance and support their creativity. The CCA promotes and publicizes the partnership between coaches and the lives of creative thinkers.
Team CCA
Heath A. Down
President and CEO
Heath A. Down is the current President and CEO of the Creativity Coaching Association.
After having worked with the CCA under his mother's guidance for several years, contributing to the behind the scenes organization, accounting, and record keeping, Heath has now transitioned into its leadership role.
Having a background in psychology and human services, Heath has a knack for working and connecting with people. A lover of numerous art forms, and the Great Human Potential, Heath finds himself at home amongst Creative Minds.
Since his mother’s passing in late winter of 2017, Heath, along with the unwavering support of his Partner Koral and the extensive network of CCA Certified Creativity Coaches, have pushed the CCA past its most significant hurdle to date; the passing of his mother and CCA President, Beverly R. Down.
Living and working on an Organic Farmstead and Retreat Center, Creativity is the name of the game. Leading by example is Heath's specialty, and heading the Creativity Coaching Association is the perfect playing field.
You can email Heath directly at heath@creativitycoachingassociation.com
"There's nothing I enjoy more than being in the presence of a truly Creative Mind." -Heath A. Down
Koral Delatierra
Administrative Director
Koral Delatierra is a California born / Colorado grown singer/songwriter, organic farmer, life coach, permaculture designer and activist. She is the founder and lead creator at Singing Springs, an off-grid retreat center for the sustainable arts just outside of Telluride, CO. She is also the lead singer and songwriter of a 9 piece reggae band, Niceness. Her lyrics are a reflection of the life she's created, embodying a message focused on love, personal responsibility, interdependence, and sustainability. Art in action!
As a pioneer of conscious leadership, she is committed to serving others on their journey to embody their full potential. Her passion lies in inspiring people to realign themselves with what they value most, clarifying purpose and moving beyond challenges and obstacles to maximize their impact while realizing their deepest desires.
You can connect with Koral at teamcca@creativitycoachingassociation.com
Rob Fortier
Instructor
Rob Fortier, the Marketing Escape Artist, has shown hundreds of entrepreneurs
the path to profitable businesses they love -- EXACTLY the way they want them! As a Certified Creativity Coach and business coach, he’s all about helping his clients escape from the activities they think they’re supposed to do, and focus instead on what works for them and their unique goals.
Rob is an internationally recognized writer and is the co-author of Pushing the Envelope: The Greeting Card Manufacturer’s Guide to Working with Sales Reps and Showtime! The Greeting Card and Gift Company’s Guide to Trade Show Success (Center Aisle Press).
As the former owner and creative director of a greeting card and stationery company, his designs have earned him recognition by leading industry magazines such as Greetings ETC, Gifts & Decorative Accessories, Art Buyer, Giftware News and Stationery Trends. He has also been featured on the HGTV cable network.
Rob serves his clients and audiences by drawing on nearly 10 years of creative design and greeting card industry experience as well as his former career in theater. As part of the former Center Aisle Group, Rob has presented dozens of webinars and teleclasses, as well as headed The Momentum Project, an interactive webinar series designed to help small manufacturers put their best foot forward.
As a speaker, Rob has been on seen on stages across the country for organizations such as the National Stationery Show, Build Your Speaking Biz Bootcamp, Be the Change, and Creativity Coaching Association Convention.
You can email him directly at rob@creativitycoachingassociation.com
Dr. Dominique T. Chlup
Instructor
Dr. Dominique T. Chlup is a Creativity Coaching Association (CCA) certified coach, a CCA instructor, and the President and Chief Creative Officer of the coaching company Inspiring the Creative Within®, LLC. She specializes in helping people maximize their creative productivity and realize their creative dreams. She coaches creatives of all kinds, including academics, artists, writers, executives, and creative entrepreneurs. She works with clients to help them create lives that are a “thundering waterfall of creativity.”
Dominique is Ivy League educated with five degrees behind her name. She is a graduate of Columbia University, the Fiction Writing MFA program at Sarah Lawrence College, and earned both a second Masters and her doctorate degree from Harvard University. She is the author/co-author on over $6.7 million in funded grant projects and has authored/co-authored over 220 publications and presentations all written one word at a time.
Dominique is an award-winning writer, workshop leader, artist, a former ballet dancer, actress, model, and a tenured University Associate Professor turned full-time certified coach. After spending years of her spare time coaching hundreds of colleagues and students to help them become great at what they do, she gave up tenure at a prestigious research University, and instead, she chose the profession of coaching—“an income-generating path with a heart.”
The elite Textbook and Academic Authors Association (TAA) nationally sponsors Dominique’s workshops. She has lead creativity and writing productivity workshops for several premiere national organizations, including TAA, CCA, the Adult Higher Education Alliance (AHEA), and the American Association of Adult and Continuing Education (AAACE). Additionally, she has given workshops to packed auditoriums at several academic institutions, including Cleveland State University, Louisiana State University, Montana State University, New Mexico State University, North Dakota State University, Penn State University, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Texas State University, and Texas A&M University.
She is completing her International Coach Federation (ICF) credential and will join the ranks of only 6,000 coaches worldwide certified at the premiere level of Professional Certified Coach. To put it simply, her 6-word bio reads: “Put on planet Earth to COACH.”
You can connect with Dominique at www.dominiquechlup.com. Or you can email her directly at dominique@creativitycoachingassociation.com
History of CCA
Dr. Eric Maisel
In 2004, Eric Maisel, a prominent pioneer in the field of creativity, was teaching a new 16-week online course entitled Introduction to Creativity Coaching. Two other key creative professionals, Rick Benzel and Beverly Down, took that same course, and from there began their path to creating and growing the Creativity Coaching Association.
Eric was a therapist and author of more than several books on creativity, and had been working with artists and creative thinkers for several years at that point. He recognized that although there were coaches for almost every profession, artists were mostly on their own, with no one to support and advocate for them.
Dr. Maisel, widely regarded as America’s foremost creativity coach, maintains a coaching practice, trains creativity coaches, and provides core trainings for the Creativity Coaching Association.He continues to leads workshops nationally and internationally.
Rick Benzel
Rick Benzel had 25 plus years in publishing where he was the senior editor of Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way, Eric Maisel's very first book on creativity, Staying Sane Within the Arts (later renamed), among many other early creativity book classics. He had seen the growing population of people in the helping professions, along with artists who were interested in becoming creativity coaches, so he created the Creativity Coaching Association (CCA) in early 2005 to meet the needs of this newly emerging field. He served as founder and Executive Director of the CCA from 2005-2007.
During those two years, Rick created the membership-based organization, and after researching the "best-of-the-best" coaching programs available at that time, created the content for the CCA's creativity coaching certification program. This comprehensive training teaches the core competencies of coaching with a specific focus on the creative psyche. Rick also started the online CCA newsletter and also published the book "Inspiring Creativity" under the auspices of the CCA in April 2005. It was the first ever anthology of articles written by professional creativity coaches -- 22 creativity coach authors in total, all members of the CCA.
Beverly R. Down
In March 2007, Beverly Down was the 5th coach who had completed the comprehensive CCA Creativity Coaching Certification Program. One month later, Rick asked Beverly if she would be willing to take over the CCA's leadership position, having noticed her business skills and commitment to her own and others’ creativity. Beverly had 25+ years working in Human Services/Social Services where she effectively used her Humanities skills to create innovative programs around the country that showcased the special populations in the organizations within her charge. She was also an entrepreneur with 10 years in direct sales, working with thousands of folks in building their start-up businesses.
Since April 2007 until January 2017, Beverly served as the CEO & President of the Creativity Coaching Association, combining her vision and dedication to the Human Potential with her love of artists & creative thinkers, and adding an emphasis in helping new coaches to create sustainable practices.
Along with teaching, training, supervising and certifying new creativity coaches, Beverly brought numerous important events and projects to the CCA during her leadership, including:
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organizing and hosting the first- and second-ever creativity coaching conferences / live gatherings in the world to date (2008 & 2010)
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publishing and editing the first Creativity Coaching Success Stories E-book featuring leading creativity coaches
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publishing & editing "Creativity Calling," the CCA's popular monthly online newsletter (since 2007)
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hosting various creativity-specific tele-classes, tele-seminars and tele-calls
Beverly Renee Down passed away in January of 2017. Her son Heath Down has since stepped into the role of president and is committed to forwarding the legacy his mother created.
The Creativity Coaching Association continues to grow in visibility and viability as a first rate professional organization and is highly regarded as the premier creativity coaching organization in the world today.
For additional information, please contact us at teamcca@creativitycoachingassociation.com, or reach out to Heath directly at heath@creativitycoachingassociation.com.
