Creativity Camp Study

In the summer of 2025, we will be hosting a research study consisting of a 2-week-long Creativity Camp, questionnaires, and interviews. We have previously hosted six cohorts in the summers of 2022 and 2023. This year, we will host two camps: 

1. June 23-27 and June 30th-July 3rd: Native American Youth. The goal of this camp is to create a safe space for Native American youth to engage with creative and cultural arts activities together. Through being together with peers who share similar backgrounds and cultures, Native American youth will have opportunities to connect through community and art. This camp will take place at the Minneapolis American Indian Center and the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.
2. July 14-17th and 21-24th: Youth from all backgrounds. This camp will draw from our past success to engage teens from all backgrounds. Professional artists will support youth in creative activities to tap into their imagination and express their authentic selves. This camp will take place at the Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain.

 Kathryn Cullen

Dr. Cullen (she/her) is an investigator for the Creativity Camp Study and an Associate Professor and Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis. 

Dr. Cullen's research focuses on adolescent depression and related problems such as self-injury.

Yuko Taniguchi 

"Creativity is a space inside us.

Does this work?"

Bonnie Klimes-Dougan 

Dr. Klimes-Dougan is an investigator for the Creativity Camp Study and an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Klimes-Dougan's research focuses on the stress system, considering risk and protective factors for distress, depression and despair in adolescents.  

Bryon Mueller 

Bryon Mueller is a medical physicist with research interest in applying novel magnetic resonance imaging methods to help understand the structural and functional differences of the brains of clinical populations. 

Within the University of Minnesota, he is a member of the 3T operations committee, which sets policy for use of the 3T systems at CMRR, and responsible for quality assurance monitoring of the 3T systems at CMRR.

Wilma Koutstaal 

Wilma is a psychology professor who studies, teaches, and writes about mental flexibility, memory, and creativity. She is developing the different measures of creative thinking and the "mental agility warm-ups."

"How does the human mind innovate and create using past and present knowledge?"

Peng Wu 

Peng is an interdisciplinary visual artist and educator.

He is interested in creating healing spaces through collective art-making.  

Mark Fiecas 

Mark is an assistant professor in the Division of Biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, and is the statistician for the project.

"Six marathons done, and many more to go."

 Mark's Past Research

Michaelle DiMaggio-Potter 

Michaelle DiMaggio-Potter (she/her) is a MIND Scholar in the RAD Lab and the Study Coordinator for the Creativity Camp Research Project.

She is interested in maladaptive cognition and behavior, specifically emotional dysregulation and self-harm, and desires to improve treatment methods for adolescents who suffer from mood and personality disorders. 

Angie Mejia 

Angie Mejia is an assistant professor and civic engagement scholar at the University of Minnesota Rochester. I will help with the qualitative aspects of this study.

Speak truth to power, always.

 Abimbola Asojo

Professor Abimbola Asojo has led workshops and summer camps since 2013 to expose underrepresented K-12 students to design and create pathways to the profession. Her scholarship and engagement focuses on promoting and advancing racial/ethnic diversity in design. 

Diversity & Design Program 

Boris Oicherman 

An engineer turned artist turned museum curator, Boris Oicherman is invested in context-specific collaborative art.

As the Cindy and Jay Ihlenfeld Curator for Creative Collaboration at the Weisman Art Museum of the University of Minnesota, he established a new program of creative engagement with research across disciplines and cultures, realizing the potential of artists to become drivers of radically diverse knowledge in academia. Boris' Bio

Shanze Hayee

Shanze (Zay) Hayee is a post-baccalaureate scholar in the RAD Lab and a study coordinator for the Creativity Camp project. 

She is interested in developing and adapting interventions to support well-being and improve mental health in systemically underserved communities.

Eyerusalem Abebaw

Eyerusalem Abebaw (she/her) is a Minnesota Inclusive Neuroscience Development Scholar in the RAD Lab and the Study Coordinator for the Imagination Central, Oromo Mental Health, and Creativity Camp projects. 

She attended Macalester College, earning her B.A. in Neuroscience. Her research interests include using neuroimaging to study psychiatric disorders and the effects of creativity-based interventions on mental health. Outside of the lab, she enjoys traveling, running, and spending time in nature.

Biiwaabik Hunt