A man walks into a college classroom full of students and starts shouting. Nobody hits the deck. Nobody believes they’re in danger. Everybody is smiling because Alex Raffi is here, he is the one shouting, and Creative Courage has begun. This is a room overflowing with art students. These people are already open to artistic concepts but are in need of confidence. Creative Courage helps them build that confidence. Alex takes them through doubt to self assurance. He reinforces that doubt is a part of creativity: it is acceptable, required, and essential. Creative people need more than just a ringmaster, though, so Alex provides them with a roadmap to bolster their creativity. He raises questions most of my students feel and ponder. He lets them know they’re not alone, and that those questions in and of themselves are important. What resonates with me as an established artist and professor is how Alex challenges our need for comfort within a sometimes uncomfortable creative life. Alex is there to remind us that whatever one’s station or place, we all need the courage to be creative, not just in our artistic world but in our lives as well. - Tom Dowling Professor Orange Coast College Creative Courage is a book that has grown out of many lectures that I’ve given on individual creative capacity and how understanding and encouraging it can inspire others around you to lift you up creatively. It’s a dismantling of common perceptions of our understanding of problem solving and offers new ways of thinking of our creative process.