A 3 year old is being creative when drawing a picture with crayons. We are being creative when we use a screwdriver to open a paint can or exchange garlic salt for cayenne in a recipe. Basically creativity involves being able to make something new from existing concepts. But I suspect when we are involved in our favorite creative endeavor we want to accomplish something far more original and interesting than the above examples. The general public tends to think of creativity as an unpredictable occurrence that strikes a few gifted people.
Creativity is thought to flow from such people with little or no effort.
Certainly an inspiration may seem to come out of nowhere. But this common assumption is far from the truth. As researchers study the nature of creativity they discover a very different picture. They have found evidence that creativity is very much grounded in the individual's knowledge and how she combines her knowledge of dissimilar concepts to create new perspectives. Creativity may seem to appear by magic but in truth it comes from a deep well of information.