When John started Creative Leadership: Business Merchandise Track, he was quiet and unsure of himself. When filling out surveys, he would ponder, write furiously, erase, and repeat. After drawing a cohort community agreement along with his peers, he was shy to share his art with the group. Part of his creative process was examining his progress and reworking every detail to his satisfaction, and so was the case for his merch design.

Though it was his first time using Procreate, John took his lack of experience as an opportunity to learn and bring his vision to life. He minded every detail, asked for help, and took creative risks along the way. John was on track to complete his design and had a clear vision for it— even planning his product before most of his peers— however, on our final design day, he stumbled upon new inspiration.

Since John would arrive early, ML staff, Ji, shared a book of T-shirt designs for John to explore as he waited. Suddenly: a gasp. He called us over to let us know he loved a particular t-shirt, and wanted to use this design instead. There was no second-guessing and no approval was needed—he felt connected to this artwork and wanted to make his own version. I tried asking him what he liked about it, and he couldn’t yet articulate it. It’s remarkable how intuitively art can make us feel seen, even when we can’t quite find the words.

John got straight to work. With all the skills he had gained through the weeks, he focused in on his new design and applied all he had learned. He made decisions quickly, and even when he consulted with us, he made his own decisions with a clarity that I hadn’t seen from him before. When John finally received his merch, he proudly shared his design with his friends and modeled for everyone what a sense of connectedness to art can do for one’s confidence.