The Center for Creative Exploration is a nonprofit intuitive painting studio with a physical home in San Francisco and a global online community.
For more than 25 years, people have come to CCE to reconnect with creativity, loosen the grip of self-judgment, and discover the joy of painting without pressure or performance.
Founded in 1999 by Barbara Kaufman, CCE teaches intuitive painting through the Point Zero Method, developed by Michele Cassou. Our teachers trained directly with Michele Cassou and Stewart Cubley, continuing a lineage of practice rooted in presence, permission, and authentic expression.
At CCE, we believe creativity is a birthright, not a skill to be earned. The practice invites you to set aside ideas about making “good” art and instead follow what feels alive in the moment. Over time, many people discover more freedom, trust, and permission in the creative process and in themselves.
No artistic talent or experience is needed.
Many people arrive believing they are “not creative,” haven’t painted since childhood, or feel intimidated by the idea of making art. This practice meets you exactly where you are. The beauty here is not in learning how to make a painting look a certain way. It lives in the experience of allowing something unexpected to emerge.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, CCE is committed to making the practice accessible. We offer scholarships and work trade so that anyone who feels called to this work has a way to find it.
Voices from the Community
Claudia Erzinger
Executive Director
The beauty here isn’t in how the painting looks. It comes in the connection, in the experience of making it.
Maria Freebairn-Smith
Teacher and Family Program Coordinator
When I paint, the image invents itself through me. I am the witness to the creative source moving through me.
Megan
long-time CCE painter
I walked in thinking I wasn't an artist. What I found instead was a kind of permission I hadn't felt since I was a child. My paintings didn’t have to look “good” and that felt so freeing.