If you define “creative people” as those folks who can come up with innovative solutions to problems more easily than the rest, then I totally agree. And yes, it can be trained, much like learning a musical instrument – and while that will be much harder for less talented people, and probably not as successful, they can still improve their skills.

The education system over here in Germany does that, too. One of the reasons I decided to go autodidactic with the stuff I really cared about (like worldbuilding, for example 😛 ).

Creativity is something we are born with, though I also believe some people have a greater natural talent for it than others – such as melancholic’s. So it is most certainly something that can be improved, developed and trained. I forget where but I remember reading about how creative people think differently to the average joe.

Also I do believe the current education system stifles creativity =(

However, I totally agree on the positive outlook part. There’s this weird old saying that artists have to suffer to create truly great art, but to be honest, when I’m feeling lousy, I only create crap if anything at all. And I’m quite sure there are a lot of people like me in that respect.

Ah, well, putting all that (day)dreaming on paper is damn hard. So the artistically inclined folks should probably resolve to do so through pictures rather than words if that’s easier for them (I know it is for me).