Art Center College of Design

Like many ideas emerging from Art Center during our 80-year history, the very concept for such a school was visionary. Edward A. “Tink” Adams was an advertising man with a radical idea in education: to teach real-world skills to artists and designers and prepare them for leadership roles in advertising, publishing and industrial design. To achieve that, he would create a faculty of working professionals from those fields. Art Center opened in 1930 with Adams serving as its director. The viability of the idea he and a small group of colleagues launched was quickly proven. Even in the midst of the Great Depression, Art Center graduates quickly found employment. Learn to create. Influence change. This is the mission of Art Center College of Design. For more than 85 years, we've achieved an international reputation for our rigorous, transdisciplinary curriculum, faculty of professionals, strong ties to industry and a commitment to socially responsible design. At Art Center, we prepare artists and designers to make a positive impact in their chosen fields—as well as the world at large.