The lack of creativity thing

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Ok, I joined these forums hoping to get some info and "ammunition" to get a proper AS diagnosis. Unfortunately it's very hard for me to "open up" here for some reason. But I have to start so here goes.

This is a thing that has confused me all my life and it still does today. When I was in primary school we had to do art for a couple of hours a week. I didn't really hate it, but I'd rather be picking my nose and enjoying the tasty, crusty boogers to be honest. Anyway, there were days where the teacher would say: "I have nothing prepared for you today so you can all have a free day and do/make whatever you want." On those days I was absolutely lost. I could never think of anything to do. I'd spend the entire couple of hours just walking round the room seeing what everyone else was doing, and trying to find something I could copy doing so I didn't get in trouble for not doing anything. But most times I never found anything that was interesting enough to me at the time.

This continued even into secondary school. I remember we had to do compulsory art in year 8 and one day we had to paint a picture of our own choice. I spent 3/4 of the time trying to think of something, and then freaked out and just copied the crappy clown picture the teacher had drawn on the blackboard. At the same time I realized the only english essays I could do were "non-fictional" types like argumentative and instructional essays. Trying to think up crap just for the sake of it seemed so foreign, made me queasy in the stomach and it still does today.

This "lack of creativity" has continued through my entire life. For example I'm a pretty good programmer - or I think I am - but find it difficult to come up with ideas. When I was going to uni a housemate was doing programming and I'd do his third year assignments in a few hours just for fun, even though I was an Organic Chem major. So it's like, if I'm told what to do I can handle it. But when it requires input from my own imagination I lose it.

Well, I'm starting to lose the plot of what this was about, but does the above sound AS typical to any of you?

No, I actually was a very creative child, and I always thought that was a trait. I would rather sit for hours creating things like board games, building a society out of lego, painting lovely pictures, and the list goes on.

Many books about aspergers state examples like you in terms of not being creative without some guidance. I myself am always trying to think of original solutions, but they must be within a framework. With lego I was not good at building from scratch, but I was amazing at modifying pre-done models. I am also very good at finding different answers to questions than the mainstream answer, but it has to be within a set framework.

I can't be truely creative without looking at other people's ideas, what I say they inspire me

That sounds similar to me to some degree so I understand. I also seem to be less creative the older I get.

I was always the creative/imaginative type of Aspie, though I did have problems with writing original sentences in Elementry school, but I have grown out of that.

I use to consider myself as being non-creative.
Anything out of routine left me hanging, verge of a melt, needing to be outside circling.

When I was older, many people pointed out I was extremely creative.

Are you a deep thinker? That is were your creativity may lie.

The "no creativity/imagination" thing is BS. Aspies are some of the most creative, imaginative and emotional people I know. I hate it when NT's make us out to be soulless robots!

I was always making stuff, but I wonder about "need for routine" equating to "being told what to do." I hated being told what to do because it meant UNcertainty - I was at the mercy of someone else's whim. But making my own stuff makes me safe because I am in control. In particular I can make it work better and more reliably. I did not want to do what others did - that was a social trait. For example, I loved Lego, but would never make houses like other people had, instead I made buildings that were stranger, and stronger, with lots of places to hide.

Don't let the lack of creativity, or tendency to be creative confuse you.

Aspies can be either way. I have three sons, all of whom are Autistic (AS). One has no problem creating his own projects. One, if given no direction at all, cannot even get started coming up with ideas of what to create. The third is somewhere between.

Yet, they are ALL Aspies. Ability (or lack thereof) to be creative, is not a measure of Autism.

The only reason creativity is sometimes noted and/or discussed in relation to Autism, is because Autism often displays symptoms that seem to cause the person with Autism to be unlikely to have such creativity. When someone does have it, in spite of, for all intents and purposes, appearing not to be capable of it, that is a conflicting observation (or so many researchers seem to feel). The fact is, it isn't conflicting at all. Being strongly creative, or lacking creativity altogether, has nothing to do with whether or not anyone is Autistic. The term "creative" doesn't even appear in the list of possible Autistic symptoms in the DSM (IV or V).

I dont think I lack creativity at all. Since I play the guitar I have created many riffs and making different kinds of riffs requires a very good imagination. My parents and other people tell me that I am very good at playing the guitar. I always try to come up with the most interesting riffs I can think of.

When I was a little kid I used to imagine being a character in the cartoons that I watched. I would imagine myself having different super powers and fighting villains.

To this day I still am creative at thinking of lots of things. My dad recently told me that I could write a book if I wanted to because I am such a deep thinker.

I am a creative person, but I do have some of the same problem. Like I remember when I was 11 and in English we had to write a fictional story and it could be about anything. Anything. I was so lost, but not because of lack of creativity, but because I had too much. I kept coming with new ideas and couldn't decide on one subject. I have never been a good painter or drawer, but give me a subject, title or idea to an essay/story and I can be a very creative writer.

Why do you think I'm an insomniac? I'm too creative.

As others have said, levels of creativity vary among people on the spectrum. Whenever there are topics on imagination, there are always a variety of responses ranging from the extremes of those who have no concept of what it means to use imagination to those who have had elaborate fantasy worlds their whole lives.

I myself have always been drawn to arts and crafts, and I do have an imaginary world. However, all of it is derivative of my special interests, which revolve around my favorite movies. When I was in school, I did horrible in creative writing and art classes when I wasn't allowed to use my favorite fictional characters in my work. So I don't think I'm very creative, at least when it comes to creating my own characters.

My special interests are poetry and literature, both reading and writing them. So i can't say it applies to me, but my dad who is also an aspie sounds exactly like what you describe, and my brother seems half way in-between my father and I. I guess it just varys from person to person.

Yes, some aspies are VERY creative. If aspies all lacked imagination/phantasy, pokemon wouldn't exist, but lacking phantasy or imagination can be a symptom of AS.

Personally, as a child, I didn't have much phantasy - My pretend play only consisted of reenacting TV shows, quoting TV lines etc, I could never think of anything to talk about except my special interests and at school, I always scored high on the syntax and low on things like writing essays, summarizing things and such.