Facilitator Biography

Stuart Brown M.D.

Trained in general and internal medicine, psychiatry and clinical research, Stuart L. Brown, MD first recognized the essential contributions of play to human development by systematically discovering its absence in the life stories of murderers and felony drunken drivers. His years of clinical practice affirmed the importance and need for healthy play throughout the human life cycle. His broad-based evaluations of highly creative individuals revealed the centrality of playfulness to their success and well-being. Following a fellowship which allowed focused study on the origins and prevention of human violence, he broadened his scope of interest to include the evolution and nature of play behavior, and its manifestations in human story and art. This led to a long-term affiliation with Joseph Campbell, and to his originating and being active in the production of 15 hours of PBS and BBC programming, including a popular nationally broadcast for-credit telecourse, Transformations of Myth Through Time. Following these productions, the National Geographic Society sponsored his exploration of animal play in the wild, resulting in his authoring a Society magazine cover article and the production of an Explorer TV program, each on animal play behavior.

His recent years of independent scholarship and exploration of the evolution and neuroscience of human and animal play have helped to focus a central commitment bringing the promises and stories of play into general cultural consciousness and to the establishment of the National Institute For Play NIFP). The NIFP has produced a 3-hour PBS series, The Promise of Play, published a companion book to the PBS film, Where Do the Children Play, as well as conducted The First NIFP Conference on the Status of Play Science. He also enjoys teaching Innovation Through Play in Stanfords D school (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) to a select group of graduate students Dr. Brown has authored the recently released Avery/Penguin book, PLAY, How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.