Lawrence Cohen, Ph.D. (Child Development Specialist) is a psychologist, author, and consultant living in Brookline, MA. He is the author of Playful Parenting, an award-winning book about nurturing close connections, solving behavior problems, and encouraging children's confidence. In addition to his work with children and parents, he consults with schools, after school programs, and corporations, and has a general psychotherapy practice. Along with Michael Thompson and Catherine O'Neill Grace, Dr. Cohen is the author of two books on children's friendships, popularity, and social cruelty: Best Friends, Worst Enemies and Mom, They're Teasing Me. He is also the author of numerous articles, including a series in Nick Jr. Family Magazine that won the Golden Lamp Award from Education Press.

Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. He works with governments in Europe, Asia and the USA, with international agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and some of the world’s leading cultural organizations. In 1998, he led a national commission on creativity, education and the economy for the UK Government. ‘All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education’ (The Robinson Report) was published to wide acclaim in 1999. He was the central figure in developing a strategy for creative and economic development as part of the Peace Process in Northern Ireland, working with the ministers for training, education enterprise and culture. The resulting blueprint for change, ‘Unlocking Creativity’, was adopted by politicians of all parties and by business, education and cultural leaders across the Province. He was one of four international advisors to the Singapore Government for its strategy to become the creative hub of South East Asia.

For twelve years, he was Professor of Education at the University of Warwick in the UK and is now Professor Emeritus. He has received honorary degrees from the Open University and the Central School of Speech and Drama; Birmingham City University and the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts. He was been honored with the Athena Award of the Rhode Island School of Design for services to the arts and education; the Peabody Medal for contributions to the arts and culture in the United States, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal of the Royal Society of Arts for outstanding contributions to cultural relations between the United Kingdom and the United States. In 2005 he was named as one of Time/Fortune/CNN’s ‘Principal Voices’. In 2003, he received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the arts. He speaks to audiences throughout the world on the creative challenges facing business and education in the new global economies.

His new book, currently a New York Times Best Seller, ‘The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything’ (Penguin/Viking 2009) is being translated into eight different languages. 

For more information go to www.sirkenrobinson.com.

Dan Siegel, M.D. received his medical degree from Harvard University and completed his postgraduate medical education at UCLA with training in pediatrics and child, adolescent and adult psychiatry.  He served as a National Institute of Mental Health Research Fellow at UCLA, studying family interactions with an emphasis on how attachment experiences influence emotions, behavior, autobiographical memory and narrative.

Dr. Siegel formerly directed the training program in child psychiatry and is the recipient of teaching awards and honorary fellowships and professorships.  He is currently an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine where he is on the faculty of the Center for Culture, Brain, and Development.  He is also the Director of the Mindsight Institute, an educational organization that focuses on how the development of insight and empathy within individuals, families and communities can be enhanced by examining the interface of human relationships and basic biological processes.

Dr. Siegel is the author of the internationally acclaimed text, The Developing Mind:  Toward a Neurobiology of Interpersonal Experience (1999) which introduces the idea of “interpersonal neurobiology” as a way of defining the mind and mental well-being.  This approach is further explored in the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology of which Dan is the Founding Editor.  His book with Mary Hartzell, M.Ed., Parenting from the Inside Out:  How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive (2003) explores the application of this newly emerging view of the mind, the brain, and human relationships to families.  He is currently finishing two texts, Mindsight and The Mindful Brain in Psychotherapy, which will expand these applications into the arenas of everyday life and psychotherapy. 

Current programs and appearances can be viewed at www.mindsightinstitute.com.