The purpose of this study was to examine the intersection between and among creativity, cognition, composition, and community. Researchers studied hundreds of adult students from several California community colleges and private universities by means of surveys, observations, and interviews to augment an extensive historical literature review. Results show that the majority of students across settings value creativity in composing in various genres, as demonstrated in Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. All college writing programs should strive to create and foster community to support students as they develop their writing skills and practice across disciplines and genres. Teaching strategies meant for one genre can easily apply to other genres, so educators should recognize, discuss, and promote experimentation with various devices, strategies and skills across the genres. Educators should liberally encourage composition students to write in various genres, such as the erasure poem rewriting of a term paper. We should recognize, discuss, teach, and promote the connections between cognition, composition, and creativity within community. Educators, therefore, need to return to a liberal arts approach to composition instruction in which we encourage creativity consistent with the latest research in cognitive science as well as the reflections of emerging college writers and the observations of rhetoric and creative writing faculty in order to restore a more creative curriculum and reject the over-emphasis on accountability. Contains three figures.