Check-in: 12:30pm

The American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) will once again host a fascinating afternoon of free-to-all, public visionary learning in their 2015 conference titled, The Human Guide to Our Creative Brain. Conceived in complement to AVAM's current thematic mega-exhibition, The Visionary Experience: Saint Francis to Finster, the conference celebrates unexpected moments of creative inspiration with presentations by noted scientific researchers, artists and altered-state experiencers. Presented in partnership with the Institute for Integrative Health, http://tiih.org, this all-afternoon conference will be held on Sunday, February 1, 2015, starting promptly at 1pm on the 3rd floor of AVAM’s Jim Rouse Visionary Center. Free registration/check-in opens at 12:30pm.

The museum is honored to welcome back author, inventor and entrepreneur Dr. Martine Rothblatt as keynote speaker. Dr. Rothblatt is the founder and chairman of United Therapeutics Corporation, and creator of both GeoStar and SiriusXM Radio.

AVAM is thrilled to likewise welcome visionary artist and sudden math savant Jason Padgett, whose fractal artwork is featured in our current exhibition. Padgett will speak about his life-changing experience fueled by a brutal beating that left him with both a severe brain injury and an inexplicable transformation into a “mathematical genius.” Padgett’s art explores the geometry and fractals that he now sees embedded throughout everyday life, and raises the question of whether extraordinary abilities like his lie dormant in us all.

Other researchers and presenters include:
• Robert R. Provine, Ph.D. is an internationally renowned author, neuroscientist and a Professor of Psychology Emeritus of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Dr. Provine has studied the development and evolution of the nervous system and is an expert in behaviors such as laughter, hiccupping, yawning and more. Dr. Provine was also a key content partner in AVAM's popular exhibition What Makes Us Smile?

• George Brainard, Ph.D. is director of the Light Research Program at Thomas Jefferson University, has studied the effects of light on the biology and behavior of animals and humans for over 30 years and is a prime designer of lighting to enhance optimal astronaut function, sleep cycles, and overall human health. He is a scholar of the Institute for Integrative Health.

• Thomas McNear, Lieutenant Colonel, US Army (Ret.), was the first member of the Army’s Stargate program to be personally trained in Coordinate Remote Viewing (CRV) by legendary remote viewer, psychic and artist Ingo Swann. Swann's cosmic paintings are featured in AVAM's current mega-exhibition The Visionary Experience, and part of the museum’s growing permanent collection.

• Richard Hammerschlag, Ph.D. became founding director of research at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine after an accomplished 25-year career in neurobiology research. A scholar emeritus of the Institute for Integrative Health, Dr. Hammerschlag studies the physiological mechanisms through which biofield therapies, such as reiki and healing touch, produce a therapeutic effect.

• Meredith Davies Hadaway, retired professor from Washington College, musician and harpist participating in Music for Healing & Transition, a nonprofit organization that trains practitioners to provide live, acoustic music to create a healing environment to serve the ill, the dying, and those who care for them.

• Brian Berman, M.D., a pioneer in integrative medicine, is tenured professor of family and community medicine, director of the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Integrative Medicine, and president and founder of the Institute of Integrative Health. Dr. Berman will share his early use of Kirlian photography of bio-energetic fields to help in the diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases including pain and addiction.

Registration: Conference admission is FREE, but kindly RSVP to [email protected]. Presented in partnership with the Institute of Integrative Health, http://tiih.org.