The Center for Gifted offers an innovative and unique approach to education, providing superb opportunities for young people to explore diverse subjects in a challenging, creative environment free from the pressures of tests and grades. At The Center for Gifted, programs are designed specifically to meet the unique educational needs of gifted children in an environment that is supportive and nurturing of their individual gifts and talents.

Founded in 1983, the Center for Gifted serves children who express capacity for high performance in diverse areas of intelligence. Through creative teaching strategies, materials, and curricula, the Center's programs offer unique, hands-on activities and inventive modes of participation. Our faculty comprise outstanding professionals - experts in their respective fields - who communicate effectively with children and reflect a genuine sensitivity and commitment to learning. Differentiation and creative critical thinking are the cornerstones of our programs.

Founder and Director of The Center for Gifted, Joan Franklin Smutny welcomes thousands of gifted children to year-round programs. She teaches creative writing to young students at her programs, as well as gifted education courses to graduate students at the university level. She is editor of the Illinois Association for Gifted Children Journal, contributing editor of Understanding our Gifted, and a regular contributor to Gifted Education Communicator, Parenting for High Potential, and Gifted Education Press Quarterly.

Joan has authored, co-authored, and edited many articles and twenty books on gifted education for teachers and parents, the most recent of which include Discovering and Advancing Talents in Spanish-Speaking Students (2012), Teaching Advanced Learners in the General Education Classroom(2012), Parenting Gifted Children (2011), Manifesto of the Gifted Girl (2010), Differentiating for the Young Gifted Child, 2nd Edition (2010), Igniting Creativity in Gifted Learners, K-6 (2009), Acceleration for Gifted Learners, K-5 (2007), and Reclaiming the Lives of Gifted Girls and Women (2007). In 1996, Joan received the NAGC Distinguished Service Award for her outstanding contribution to the field of gifted education. In 2012, she received the E. Paul Torrance Award in Creativity given by NAGC.