What Inspires Creativity? 6 Tips That Might Spark Yours

Sometimes certain places, at specific points in history, become incubators of brilliant ideas. London during the Elizabethan era, for example, or 1920s Paris--author Eric Weiner has called them "genius clusters." Of course, not everyone walking around the Left Bank nearly a century ago was brilliant. And anyone, at any time, can have a bold idea that changes lives. Take Kathy Ku, who as a 19-year-old student came up with a water filter made of clay and sawdust that is now providing clean drinking water to thousands.