A film documenting the life and work of E. Paul Torrance, Alumni Foundation Distinguished professor emeritus, was broadcast on GPTV on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2000.

The film "Manifesto for Children," is based on Torrance's 22-year longitudinal study on creative achievement which followed 215 young adults who attended two elementary schools in Minnesota from 1958 to 1964. The students were given creativity tests each year and were followed up with a questionnaire in 1980. On the basis of their responses, the Manifesto was developed to describe their ongoing struggle to maintain their creativity and use their strengths to create their careers and provide guidance to children.

In 1998, the participants were followed up to get a picture of their creative achievements and to validate the Manifesto. Some of the 101 respondents had attained eminence, while others had attained only mediocre careers.

Director David Silvian and writer Alice Silvian, his wife and a former UGA education program specialist who is now assistant dean for distance learning at Prestonburg Community College in Kentucky, traveled across the country for interviews that pepper the film. "In addition to talking with Georgians, we went to Minnesota and California to video some of Torrance's friends, colleagues and students," says David Silvian, of UGA's Georgia Center.

"It was very inspiring to interview so many people who were touched by Dr. Torrance, the man, the teacher, the researcher. The personal impact that one man can have on so many is amazing," says Alice Silvian.

The results of the 40-year study show that the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking and Intelligence were significant predictors of creative achievement. "Some of them did achieve outstanding success," says Torrance. "One is listed in Best Doctors in the United States, and two have been characterized as 'super-lawyers.' One has had an interesting career in the State Department and is now in charge of the embassy in Lagos, Nigeria. Several became outstanding psychiatrists and psychologists. One young woman is Director of Child and Adolescent Psychology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

"One young man, who was the son of physicians and surgeons, was expected to be one, but he was so talented in music that he had an outstanding career in Hollywood and New York as a composer, singer and performer," he says. "In the 1980 follow-up, he had just composed and performed a song for Bette Midler's movie, The Rose. At the time of the 40-year study, he had just come up with a hit song which was performed by Tina Turner."

Two of the subjects have had outstanding careers as inventors and have become multimillionaires, one in the field of medical equipment and the other in electronics. "The one in medical equipment had failed in medical school and used his medical training as a source of ideas in inventing medical equipment," says Torrance. "The other one, in electronics, had just invented a device that was bought by Cadillac."

The tests also showed that one could be average or less than average in creativity and still be a high achiever, if properly motivated. "The one who is listed in Best Doctors and the two 'super-lawyers' were all average or below average in creativity and intelligence," says Torrance.

Most of the subjects had mentors. In the 40-year study, more of them had mentors than in the first study. Many studies have found that having a mentor seems to affect their success. A greater quantity and quality of creative achievements were reported by those who had mentors than those who did not.

The study also showed that parents and teachers seem to have different expectations for boys and girls. Almost of the boys felt that their parents and teachers had great expectations of them. The picture for girls was quite different. "One of the young women was told that she would never be able to complete elementary education, when, as a matter of fact, she completed college and went through the masters level," says Torrance. "This would not have been possible if her grandparents had not believed in her potential and paid for her college and graduate education. The parents of another girl told her that she would not even hold down a job as a clerk at Woolworth's. In actuality, she became a leader in the business field," he says.

As written in Garnet W. Millar's authorized biography, "Torrance found that it was important for highly creative children to have mentors and to have a future career image or to have 'fallen in love' with something that they pursued later in their lives."

The documentary depicts how Torrance has lived and exemplified the elements of the Manifesto all of his life. These include:

1) Don't be afraid to fall in love with something and pursue it with intensity.
2) Know, understand, take pride in, practice, develop, exploit, and enjoy your greatest strengths.
3) Learn to free yourself from the expectations of others and walk away from the games they impose on you. Free yourself to play your own game.
4) Find a great teacher or mentor who will help you.
5) Don't waste energy trying to be well-rounded.
6) Do what you love and can do well.
7) Learn the skills of interdependence.

Torrance served as head of the department of educational psychology at UGA from 1966 to 1978. He earned an undergraduate degree from Mercer University, a masters at the University of Minnesota and doctorate at the University of Michigan.

He began his professional career as a high school and junior college teacher, counselor and administrator and developed his first creativity test at Georgia Military College. In 1945, he became a counselor of disabled veterans at the University of Minnesota Counseling Bureau. Soon, he was inducted in the U.S. Army and served as a psychiatric social worker and psychologist where he interviewed, tested and counseled men who had been court martialed.

Upon his discharge, he joined the counseling bureau at Kansas State University and later became dean of men, counseling bureau director and professor of psychology. In 1951, he became director of the Survival Research Field Unit at the U.S. Air Force Advanced Survival School. In 1958, he returned to the University of Minnesota and acted as director of the Bureau of Educational Research until 1966. He then came to UGA where he remained until his retirement in 1984.

Monday, October 16, 2000
Writer: Michael Children, 706/542-5889, mchilds@coe.uga.edu
Contact: Nina Matthews-Morgan, 706/542-5108, nitamm@arches.uga.edu