California College of the Arts

California College of the Arts was founded in 1907 by Frederick Meyer to provide an education for artists and designers that would integrate both theory and practice in the arts. The college attracts promising students from around the world who want to attend one of the best art and design schools in the U.S. CCA educate talented, visionary students to become versatile makers with inventive solutions to advance culture and society.

The private nonprofit college offers a rich curriculum of 22 undergraduate and 11 graduate programs, and is noted for its curricular interdisciplinarity, breadth of programs, and commitment to social responsibility. Spread across two distinct campuses in the Bay Area, students experience immersive, interdisciplinary exposure that emphasizes theory and practice, helping them to gain the creative confidence and entrepreneurial skills needed for contemporary creative practice.

Graduates are highly sought after by companies such as Pixar/Disney, Apple, Intel, Facebook, Gensler, Google, IDEO, Autodesk, Mattel, and Nike. Many alumni have launched their own successful businesses, and alumni work is featured in major collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MoMA New York, Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum, SFMOMA, The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., The Library of Congress, and Tate Modern in London.

CCA is creating a new educational experience by expanding its San Francisco campus to include state-of-the-art teaching facilities for all of our programs. They are also adding more housing to accommodate up to 1,000 students. Designed by a team led by award-winning architect Jeanne Gang, Double Ground is the centerpiece of the campus expansion. With spaces that Gang calls “creatively hackable,” the open, transparent design connects programs in ways that haven’t been possible with a two-campus system. More versatile spaces encourage knowledge sharing and creative experimentation.