Creative Lives trains educators, parents, and school leaders to strengthen the underlying capacities that help children learn, relate, and thrive.
Learn practical ways to support seven core areas of human potential:
Inspiration • Focus • Self-Esteem • Good Intentions • Emotional Well-Being • Persona in the World • Discipline
The Hidden Infrastructure of Learning
Every child has a unique potential for learning, contribution, and fulfillment. And within every child are innate capacities that help bring this potential to life.
Is there a hidden infrastructure beneath learning and development—one that can help us better understand and support these capacities? We believe so.
A Framework for Wise Education®, developed by educator and author Ellen Tadd, organizes our understanding of human potential into seven essential areas of development—helping us recognize what is already strong, what may need greater support, and practical ways to foster growth.
For more than sixteen years, Creative Lives has brought this search for buried treasure to thousands of young people, educators, and families.
“If I could wave a magic wand, I would put this framework in the hands of every parent and teacher around the globe. It's that important.”
—Liz Wiley, Director of the Marion Institute
Stories from the Field
Discouragement to Engagement:
Nine students on the verge of expulsion helped reveal a surprising insight about human development and learning.
We All Belong
When a third-grade student experienced racial bias at school, a Framework strategy helped transform hurt into understanding, leadership, and connection.
The Approach That Guides Our Work
A Framework for Wise Education® grew from educator and author Ellen Tadd's decades of observing the human energy—or chakra—system and its relationship to human development.
Working with thousands of children and adults, Tadd developed a practical framework for understanding patterns of strength and challenge across seven areas of development.
Creative Lives has spent more than sixteen years exploring and applying this approach with children, educators, and families.
“Before studying this approach I was considering leaving the field. Now, I’m more committed than ever.
—Ben Laroche, 5th-6th grade educator
Challenges We Help Address
Academic learning is important—but so are the developmental areas that make learning possible. By building capacities in each of the above areas we witness parents, educators and young people address and transform:
Discouragement & Disengagement
Difficulty focusing and making clear decisions—including for children with ADHD
Low Self-Esteem
Unkindness or bullying
Emotional overwhelm
Relationship challenges
Irresponsibility
Lack of empathy
Difficulty retaining & applying knowledge
Ellen Tadd
In this short video, the creator of A Framework for Wise Education® discusses why a holistic understanding of human development matters in education.
The Framework Offers:
Practical tools and strategies for strengthening seven areas of potential in children and adults
A developmental lens for recognizing strengths and understanding challenges
Integration with PBIS, SEL, and other approaches already in place
In Creative Lives' work, the chakra system is used as a developmental framework—not as a belief system or spiritual practice.
What Educators are Saying
"I have never encountered a more powerful or meaningful framework for approaching education."
— Sharon Webster, Educator
"We are noticing ripple effects throughout the school day. Children are expressing creatively where they were too shy before. They're talking with each other about new ways of handling their feelings. There are children for whom this approach has truly shifted their direction forward."
— Marcia McNally, educator
“I wish every educator in our school could take this training!”
—Alex Mathis, elementary educator
Tangible Outcomes
73% of our trainees can consistently help children make wise decisions and assess next steps with clarity, compared to 27% before training.
81% of our trainees report experiencing regular joy in their work and/or parenting, compared to 30% before training.
93% of our trainees report significant improvements in their ability to help children learn and develop their unique potential.
Ready to Explore?
Start with our free webinar, The Epidemic of Disconnection.
In 22 minutes, discover a different way of understanding what helps children learn, connect, and thrive.
Choose Your Path
For Educators
Explore our options for individual educators, including free training, self-paced learning, and online courses.
For Teams, Schools & Communities
Explore our professional development options for groups including talks, workshops, professional development days, and in-depth training for teams.
“This program doesn’t just change educators. It transforms teams.”
— Nikki Darwish, Early Education Director
For Parents
Parents are always welcome to engage in our training opportunities for individual educators (see above). In addition, we are offering a new parenting course: Parenting with Wisdom, in January 2027.
Meet Our Director
Maureen Burford, M.Ed., Founding Director of Creative Lives, has spent more than four decades working with children, educators, and families. Since 2012, she has led Creative Lives' work applying A Framework for Wise Education® in schools, educator training, and community settings.
“For more than forty years, I’ve worked with children as an educator, musician, mentor, and parent. Again and again, I’ve been struck by how much lies within a child that we may not immediately see—or know how to reach. I do this work because I believe that when we learn to recognize and support that potential more fully, we change not only what is possible for children, but what is possible for all of us.”
— Maureen