Creativity isn’t limited to studios or concert halls, sometimes it’s found in operating rooms… After watching a short video by creator Toni Bravo, I began questioning everything I thought I knew about what makes a person ‘creative’.“Any time you have to think outside the box to create a solution or to create anything, you’re being a creative person,” Toni Bravo stated in a recent Youtube video. What exactly determines what creativity is? Who does? And what does creativity mean in daily life and to the people around us?
First Glance
Before this video, I had never considered doctors as artists. But as Toni spoke, something shifted. The more I listened, the more her words reframed how I saw creativity. Watching Toni’s YouTube video, I was absolutely stunned. “I think doctors actually have to be some of the most creative people ever,” she stated with a confidence that made me give my full attention to the screen. Toni explained that her sister, a doctor, was a very creative person, which many people found surprising. “Not just ‘textbook creative’—I meant something cooler than that,” she added. Doctors, whom people usually think of simply as very intelligent individuals, have their own way of displaying creativity. For example,
“When you think of trauma you think of life, not everything goes according to a textbook, so doctors are constantly using a bunch of unknown, random variables processing these variables and utilizing the information that they have, thinking quickly”
Then it clicked. Her point stuck with me: creativity isn’t limited to traditional art forms, it’s any moment that requires imagining the unseen. Think of an E.R. doctor who must improvise treatment when symptoms don’t match textbook diagnoses, or a surgeon who adapts mid-procedure when unexpected complications arise, both require imaginative, flexible thinking.
I think it’s really beautiful how doctors can create these unique treatments and surgeries for each specific situation. It’s almost like creating a song that only one person could ever interpret and only one person could ever write. It’s as if they use everything they’ve built up from the past and incorporate it into each patient they meet.
What Is an Artist?
This video essay sent me on a never-ending thought journey, trying to reimagine creativity. It felt like such a refreshing and fun perspective, especially as a girl in love with English and Biology, afraid that if she pursues one, the other will be lost. But according to Toni, perhaps it’s just not that simple. Maybe they’re more intertwined than they seem.
I started thinking about my own life and friends to justify this newfound idea. My first thought went to how, a while ago, I was confused about how people could give up a “creative” side of themselves for a science. But now I understand that they aren’t giving up anything, simply reshaping themselves around what’s important to them.
So how does Toni’s idea actually live and breathe among everyday Texas State students? I wanted to see it for myself.
My first conversation was with Mumen, a freshman Biology and Pre-Dental student. On paper, he fits neatly into the world of science, but the moment he started listing his hobbies, drawing, reading, and playing soccer with a kind of intentional rhythm, I realized he was already blurring the lines. When I asked him what creativity meant to him, he said, “Coming up with your own ideas for things,” when I asked whether his major or his day-to-day life required creativity, he added, “I’d say it does. Even with academics… you can be creative with how you study.” And then came the moment that truly confirmed what I had been exploring. When asked if he sees himself as an “art” or “science” person, he paused and said, “Well, I think I’m both, because even if I am a science person, I still use art every day.” It was such an honest answer, matter-of-fact, and full of the intertwined thinking Toni had been talking about.
Encouraged by this, I kept searching. What would a pre-med student say?
I then spoke with Miranda, a Biology major whose passions seemed to float freely between disciplines. “I love thrifting, hanging out with my friends… I also really like embroidery,” she told me, her voice carrying that warm enthusiasm people get when they talk about things that make them feel most themselves. When I asked for her definition of art, she said, “I think art is kind of everywhere… art is kind of what you make it.” Miranda talked about how her hobbies and her major seemed to teach her different types of skills she carries into all parts of her life. Listening to her, it felt obvious that she, too, existed somewhere in that in-between space. “I’m definitely creative,” she said, and it felt like the most natural conclusion.
Finally, I sat down with Eduardo (Eddie), a sophomore studying Criminal Justice and Political Science on a pre-law track. In his free time, he’s passionate about artistic gymnastics, a discipline that merges strength with beauty in a way that feels almost symbolic of this whole idea. When he talked about creativity, he said, “Some people can see something as beautiful while others think it’s ordinary… creativity is an abstract concept.” His definition felt airy, philosophical, like something you’d underline in a book to think about later. When I asked whether his field needed creativity, his answer reminded me just how expansive “art” really is. “I feel like they do (lawyers). Criminal defense lawyers have to come up with creative ways to defend their clients,” he said. Then he added, “And in the policy-making route, you have to come up with creative ways for legislation to make an impact.”
These were just a few examples of people who bridge the gap between expected and unexpected creativity, and I can’t imagine how many others quietly prove Toni’s point every day.
Invisible Strings
This tension between practicality and passion reminded me of a line from Dead Poets Society… “Medicine, law, business, engineering—these are all noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love…these are what we stay alive for.” But why do we have to collectively label everything we do as individuals? We are alive for everything and anything defined by our passions. Beauty, love, and poetry can exist in business, law, medicine, and engineering.
Medicine allows for the art of healing, life, and remedy. Engineering gives us the design of problem-solving and creation. Law gives us the art of defense, discipline, and connection.
Intertextuality
Writing this, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more understood. It almost feels like I’m sitting on a small piece of information I wish the world knew. Now I see interdisciplinary creativity everywhere, not just in its designated areas. Maybe the real question isn’t whether doctors are artists, but how often we overlook the creativity around us simply because it doesn’t look like art.
Even in my chemistry labs, I notice how instinctively I bring my artistic habits, counting rhythms, and treating each titration like a tiny piece of choreography. When an art history test comes up, I use the same study methods I use for my medical classes. I also can’t forget the instinct of starting each lab report with a byline, sketching biomedical tool blueprints with my charcoal pencils, and even reading recipes like lab instructions. I can’t separate art and science even if I tried.
So are doctors the new artists? No. They always were; we just didn’t realize it.