An essential guide for not only fostering genuine personal expression, but also the courage to share our most meaningful work with others—all without pretense or artifice.

Author, filmmaker, educator, cultural commentator, and Variety Mentor of the Year recipient Craig Detweiler has taught thousands how to launch creative projects with intention, awareness, and confidence. As a result, his students have founded festivals, started companies and schools, written acclaimed graphic novels, and directed movies for Marvel. Now, at a time when generative AI can aggregate text and images in seconds, Detweiler shows why “honest creativity” is one of the core tenets that separates humans from machines. Readers will learn, not only how to prioritize ideas, but also how to develop their own method for producing cohesive, whole, and enduring works; escaping comfort zones; and cultivating a like-minded community that both motivates and challenges. This groundbreaking approach promises to help creators turn problems into possibilities by first honing their ability to innovate and then preparing them to handle the feedback—both positive and negative—that is inevitable when private work is displayed in the public sphere. For Detweiler, creating honestly is a way of honoring the gift of life, and his transcendent guide shows us how we can excel in an act that is, fundamentally, both uniquely human and magnificently divine.

Craig Detweiler currently serves as the President & CEO of Wedgwood Circle, a philanthropical investment collective funding creative projects of meaning. He is also Dean of the College of Arts & Media at Grand Canyon University. In recent years, Detweiler has worked in various roles within academia, including Professor of Communication at Pepperdine University, Associate Professor & Chair of the Mass Communication Department at Biola University and director of the Reel Spirituality Institute at Fuller Seminary. Detweiler’s cultural commentary has appeared on Nightline, CNN, Fox News, Al Jazeera, NPR, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. As a filmmaker, his award-winning documentaries include Remand (narrated by Angela Bassett), Purple State of Mind, and unCommon Sounds. In 2016, he was named Variety’s Mentor of the Year, and for years has blogged at Patheos as “Doc Hollywood.” Detweiler has both a Master of Divinity and a PhD in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He lives in Los Angeles, California.