Creative inspiration is a puzzle, a paradox. Some say a mystery. Inventors, scientists, artists rarely even know how they come up with their original ideas. They mention intuition but they can't say how it works. The dictionary defines "create" as "to bring into being or form out of nothing". But that sounds impossible. What is creative inspiration? And where does it come from? I'm Dwight Nelson. Let's look at the evidence.

Linda Woolverton wrote the highly acclaimed film, Beauty and the Beast and co-wrote The Lion King. Her version of Aida with Elton John is a hit on the Broadway stage. We talked to her about her work, the nature of creativity, and the relationship between creative inspiration and spirituality.

I'm living now beyond what I ever dreamed for myself. Because it wasn't the castle on the hill that I've always thought was going to give me happiness. I liked the doing of it. I fondly look back to the days when I was a penguin in the mall. It was simple. There was a direct form of communication. It was…it was simple then. And I liked myself very much then. And I liked doing it and I liked them.

It may seem like a long journey from playing a penguin in the mall to writing the academy award nominated screen play for Beauty and the Beast. But Linda Woolverton took that journey. Then she followed up her first triumph with The Lion King. That film features a story inspired in part by the death of her father while she was still a young child. In the movie, the young Simba must face the death of his father, Mufasa, who died while saving his life.

It was really important that Mufasa be the epitome of the great father. The One who forgives transgressions. The One who can play with his son and teach. The perfect father, that's Mufasa. And then to kill him, to kill him in a pretty intense way, well…that was sort of bold. But I thought, you know, there's life and death around us every day, every day. And children are experiencing this every day. So what are we hiding from? We're not going to help…through story we are…we are here to teach and help them sort of…vicariously experience these sorts of things. So, if we don't do that, then we're not really doing our job as adults or storytellers. So, I wasn't shy of killing Mufasa. I loved the noble sacrifice. I've always loved the theme. It's the best of being human…putting ourselves second to another life. That's a theme that is in Beauty and the Beast. He doesn't ever really redeem himself until he finally agrees to let her go and then, ultimately, he becomes human. But he's sacrificing himself in the process. And I love the fact that he gets redeemed, that this girl comes into a life and redeems him at the brink. He's right on the edge of losing it all - everything. Even in that dark place where he is, he sees something in her that pulls him out of the despair and the dark place that he's in. I love that about him.

Linda Woolverton told us that creative inspiration feels tangible, like drinking joy. But who has creativity? And how did they get it?

I think probably everybody has a different form of creativity. Some people have more of it or listen to its voice more than others perhaps. So the mystery is that it isn't something tangible, it can't be measured and it can't be weighed and it doesn't have an IQ quotient attached. And it brings so much enjoyment to our lives. That something that's so ephemeral and so valuable. I don't believe I could write the particular kinds of stories that I write without some level of spirituality in my personal life. If I don't live, if I don't try to live what I write, then I can't write. I think spirituality is a consciousness that we are here for a reason. That is more than just getting what we can get or just our own enjoyment. That we are here for some other purpose. My perception of God helps me when I'm looking for a higher meaning to what I'm doing. Because I believe that the reason that we tell stories is to communicate something through myth or story telling or characters - some higher truth. And so I have to open myself to whatever that truth is, it just shows up. It just arrives. It just pops in. So I don't think that's because I'm so brilliant. I don't think that's because I'm a creative genius, because I don't. I just think I listen.

Linda also told us her house is often filled with the sound of laughter and children running from room to room. She said play and the creative process, it's all the same. Coming up, he sold his first painting to Disney at age 18. Now he's known worldwide for his unique ability to capture both the subtle moods and intense passions of nature and it's beauty. You'll meet him and watch him work next.

An artist paints a line on a canvas, then another line in tension with the first. Out of this pattern of lines a picture emerges which we might call great. What is art? What makes it great? What goes through an artist's mind as he paints? Could God be a source for creative inspiration?

When I sit down to paint I am in relationship with him. He's the creator and I am, you know, a silly human being who's trying to emulate something, in a way. But I'm a partner with the creator in this whole thing. And so the spirit behind what I'm doing is not just to make a pretty painting. It's to create impact through the emotional look of this, through the color, through the look of the painting, through the subject matter. And it's very important to me that people realize that a painting is…that my painting isn't just of a tree, it's of what that tree is, what it represents, what it feels like. When we go and we look at a landscape, or we look at something and we take a photograph and we can't figure out why that photograph is dead, it's…when we get home, it's because when we look at something we can also feel it and we can hear it and…we're there. We're experiencing it. And that's what I try and have in a painting and I can't do it in a photo. I had an instance where I was doing a show up in San Francisco and a…and a man came up to me at the show and he introduced himself and he said: "I'm dying." And I went: "Whoa…ok." And that's a little bit scary. But you know what he said? "You make me want to live again." And I said: "Ok." (still kind of going well…) And he said: "I have aids. I was going to buy this headstone for me after I died. And I went into a gallery and I saw this painting (Serenity) and I had to have it. And I took that money and I bought that painting. And I put it at the foot of my bed. And I decided - I'm going to live. I'm not going to die anymore. I'm going to live as long as I can." I didn't even know what to think. You know, I was just kind of dumb founded and it wasn't until several years later that it just hit me that art work could do that. It can have an impact on people.

Whether it be a child's drawing of his mom, a cast iron sculpture in Philadelphia, a Van Gogh starry night, artwork does have an impact. So what is the process that takes a simple line and transforms it into a powerful image that lingers in our minds?

My feeling is, with painting, that it starts in your heart and it goes through your head and it comes out through your hand. And that is the motion that creativity takes with…for me. It doesn't start out that way because obviously in the beginning, just like a piano player learning scales, you have to think about what you're doing. And so, you start with your head and your hand, kind of coordination. But it isn't until that…that part of your heart and soul become the most important element in a painting that you really begin to let it flow and it just flows out. It's amazing no matter how we would want to stop people from creating, they won't. And that's because that's within us because we are…we are made in the image of God and He is part of us and we're part of Him. And it's desire that we can't get away from even if we want to. People who are creative - who don't create - are the most miserable people in the world. Sometimes people ask me if creativity is hard and I don't think it should be. I think sometimes the work is hard. I think we have to work hard to be able to create. I think I've painted for 30 years and I've painted thousands and thousands of paintings and I'm still learning. And I've just barely got my feet wet the way that I feel. It's like I heard once that when Leonardo DaVinci was dying that he was lamenting the fact that he hadn't done all the things that he figured that he was going to do. And I can see where that comes from because the more you do it, the more there is. It's almost like that principle of giving. The more you give, the more you get. And it works that way with art too. The more that you do it and the more that you are true to what it is you do, the more you start getting back. And the more you want to give and the more…I don't want to own any paintings. I just want to give them up. I want them to move into their place in the world. My belief is that the creator who created everything and our form of creation as creative people, as people who take words and put them on paper or they take paint and they put it on canvas or sculpt or music, does have a connection with that creator and at this point in life I'm not positive exactly how that works. But I know we're not taking nothing and making something. Not like He did. We're taking elements and putting them together and creating something that…that is neat many times, but it isn't the same.

Today James Coleman's paintings have become some of the most sought after works of contemporary fine art in the world. Our next guest makes a case for the artist's need to connect their spiritual vision with their creativity and she does it in Hollywood. We'll be right back.

Dr. Linda Seger created and defined the job of Hollywood script consultant. In addition to writing several books, she has consulted on film and television scripts for most of the major networks and studios and she has a doctorate in drama and theology. In fact, I have her latest book here in front of me: Making a Good Writer Great: A Creativity Workbook for Screenwriters. Linda, a delight to have you here on The Evidence. Now a wonderful book. What's the answer? How do you make a good writer great?

Great writing is a combination of three things. One is your art…

Ok.

… which is your own particular perspective, unique voice, your originality, you know, those special stories.

All right.

One is how do you craft it? Once you know the story you want to tell.

All right.

And the third is what do you know about your creative process? Do you have what we might call control over you creative process so that you can keep it going and not just saying 'Well if it comes to me, it comes to me'? Creative people know how to make their creative process work.

Is Hollywood a place filled with great writers?

No, Hollywood is filled with a lot of competent writers, a few great ones, and a few terrible ones.

Yeah.

Like any other job in the world.

I suppose you are right. Let me move Linda right to the bottom line. What is the definition of inspiration?

I think inspiration is when the spirit works through us and moves us to a point of illumination. It's the 'Aha!' It's the "Eureka!" It's the "I got it! I figured it out." It's that moment when we see something that is unique and original and truthful and wonderful.

Talking about spirituality and creativity, where is the interface in that? What is it that makes creativity a spiritual exercise or reality?

I think that what happens when we create is that many times we say: "It's a mystery." We don't know what's happening. Something is flowing through us and it comes out in this unconscious, you know, this marvelous flow and this marvelous energy. And I think there's something about that that is just simply spiritual. And I also think it's spiritual because when we are creating, we are trying to tell the truth. We're trying to get back to what the human condition is about, what are our lives about. What is the meaning of life? And how are we going to get that through?

What about the transcendent? If art is a God-thing, the transcendent is all around us. In art itself, in film, in the industry, is the transcendent there? Is it something that just is emerging more and more in American filmmaking?

This is an interesting thing about that word transcendent because religious people in film are always saying: "Where is the transcendence in film?" I don't think that it's about looking for the transcendent in film. I think it's about looking for the imminence, the immanent spirit, the spirit within and between…

Transcendent meaning this…this out there, God…

Yes.

Instead of looking for that, looking for it….

Because the transcendent becomes very abstract. And people say: "Well, how are we going to show it?" And suddenly you have all this preachiness. What I want to look for in film is where do I see something of God and of Spirit happening in that story between the characters? Where do I see transformation? Where do I see goodness? Where do I see justice? Where do I see integrity? And if I believe that those things are all part of God, then when they happen in a movie I say that's a manifestation or an expression of God's work and God's love and God's kindness.

I get the impression you're looking for God everywhere.

You bet I am! And I find God everywhere.

Are you finding Him everywhere?

I find God everywhere. But what fascinates me in film is how many films are so interested in evil. And you know, evil is…after a while gets pretty one-dimensional. When was the last great villain you saw? I find most of them pretty boring after a while. I think explosions…

Interesting point.

…are not all interesting.

Interesting.

What I'm fascinated in films is where is goodness and kindness? And I think goodness is very dramatically interesting.

You've been…your doctorate is in theology.

Yes.

So, you live with the Genesis story of creation. How does the human mind interface with that creation story? How can a sacred act become part of my day-to-day survival?

Well, one of the things in the Genesis story is they talk about that the Spirit was upon the face of the deep and it was formless.

Yes.

They don't use the word chaos. Sometimes we think the creativity begins with chaos. I think it begins with formlessness.

That's an interesting thought.

And that we are going through a process to take us from that sense of everything being vague and amorphous and we are trying to give it form just like God created the trees and everything and gave form. And that creation story I think is a wonderful one to keep us in touch with part of the process. But I have two other favorite creation stories…

Really?

…in the Bible. My next favorite is Proverbs 8. What I love in that creation story is that creation is delightful. It's a joy. And we delight in what we make. And my feeling is that if people are not delighting, are not finding joy in their creation, then they need to look again. They need to look at what's going on. And my other favorite creation story is Job 38.

Job 38?

Because God says, I created the world and I created this huge thing, and then I set the boundaries.

Right.

And the boundaries were, you know, the sea will come just this far up on the shore.

Uh huh.

And what I get from Job 38 is this idea that part of creativity is being very expansive. Part of creativity is knowing where the boundaries are. Some people don't know boundaries and they become socially irresponsible. Some people don't know expanse. And they don't want to go into dark places. They don't want to go into struggle. They want it all to be just real nice and appropriate. And there you are missing…

Yeah.

…the other part of creation. So you're always in balance.

Now: source of creativity. Where does it all come from?

My feeling is the source of creativity is the Spirit, is God. That because our world was made to be creative, and we just have to look around to see the vast amount of creativity, that that creator who made the world also made us and planted in us that ability to be individual. To do something unique and wonderful.

Linda Seger, what a book! Making a Good Writer Great: A Creativity Workbook. Thank you for sharing with us about your creativity and the journey with God. What do you think? Art and inspiration, is it a God thing? We'd like to know your opinion. You can find out more about our guest as well on The Evidence website. It's www.theevidence.org. We'll be back in just a moment with some concluding thoughts.

There's an interesting perspective on nature that comes to us from the Psalms of the Bible. The Hebrew poet saw nature as a non-stop performance that inspired applause. They pictured God stretching out the heavens like a canopy, clothing meadows with flocks and valleys with grain, filling the broad sea with swarms of animals, great and small. The Psalmist enthusiastically celebrated the skill of the creator. I think that's understandable. We want to get to know very creative people. We want to know what makes them tick. And if God is the creator, then God is the source of creative inspiration. That makes God the greatest artist of all. The incredible wealth that we find in human hearts and minds wells up from that original divine spring. If there is a richness in persons, how much richer must be their source? That's what I think. I'm Dwight Nelson. Join us next time for more of The Evidence.