“Creativity is finding unity in what appears to be diversity,” says Dr. Kenneth Heilman. Author of Creativity and the Brain, Heilman, a distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida, explains where creativity may reside in the brain, how it differs from raw intelligence, and how creative people actually think. Heilman has been fascinated by creativity since childhood. Almost killed by meningitis as an infant in 1938, he was saved by a doctor who had heard of a new treatment and tried it on Heilman. “Creativity has reduced a huge amount of suffering,” Heilman says.

TRANSCRIPT:

Intro: 0:01

Inventors and their inventions. Welcome to Radio Cade the podcast from the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The museum is named after James Robert Cade, who invented Gatorade in 1965. My name is Richard Miles, we'll introduce you to inventors and the things that motivate them, we'll learn about their personal stories, how their inventions work and how their ideas get from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Richard Miles: 0:38

Creativity in the brain, where can it be found? How does it differ from intelligence? And what are creative people like? I'm your host Richard Miles, today, My guest is Dr. Kenneth Heilman, distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Florida and author of surprise, a book called "Creativity and the Brain". Welcome to Radio Cade Ken.

Dr. Kenneth Heilman: 0:56

Thank you for inviting me.

Richard Miles: 0:58

So Ken, like many of our guests on this show, you spent your career in Florida, but you were born in Brooklyn. So, the first thing I gotta ask is, Dodgers or Yankees? Let's get that out of the way first.

Dr. Kenneth Heilman: 1:09

Brooklyn Dodgers. But when they moved to LA, I stopped being a professional sports fan.

Richard Miles: 1:16

So you didn't switch to another team? You just gave up entirely on sports?

Dr. Kenneth Heilman: 1:19

Well, you know, here was a team that was tremendously supportive and actually started integration with Jackie Robinson and what happened because they offered him a free stadium in the park and Patriot, the hell with the fans that have been watching him for all these years, we're going to LA and I said, look, I don't move for businesses.The hell with this I'm not watching this anymore.

Richard Miles: 1:42

And that was a precursor of things, the calmest teams to abandon their cities, to go to other markets and so on during the expansion years. Okay. Well, now that we've got that most important question out of the way, let's sort of dive straight into our topic. As you know, Phoebe and I, have always been interested in the neuroscience of creativity and I think the first time we met, probably about 2010, it was to get your ideas and some other folks at the University of Florida, we're planning a big exhibit on the neuroscience of creativity. And so we needed to get smart, and we knew that you were one of the folks to talk to. So creativity is one of those terms that gets thrown around a lot and sometimes it's defined in different ways. So why don't I start by asking you to define creativity from your point of view, and then how does it differ from intelligence? But let's start with that.

Dr. Kenneth Heilman: 2:25

Okay. First of all, when I was in high school, I took a public speaking course, I got to seen it, but