Explore what's possible as a graduate student
At CCA, the only private nonprofit art and design school in Northern California, our distinguished graduate programs fuse interdisciplinary art education with emerging technologies, centering critical theory and hands-on research. Your practice will grow through rigorous inquiry and direct engagement with tomorrow’s tools and ideas.
Why CCA?
Connect ideas to action
A one-of-a-kind community shaping the future
CCA graduate school is a transformational experience. This is where creative practice becomes meaningful action, and where you’ll find the people and resources to make change now. You’ll join a close-knit community of action-oriented makers and thinkers, diverse in background, discipline, and perspective. Together, we use architecture, art, design, writing, and critical scholarship to cross boundaries and take on cultural and environmental challenges.
Industry connections you won’t find anywhere else
Our pedagogy values both critical theory and hands-on practice, balancing studio experimentation with rigorous discourse. And our Bay Area location means your ideas are tested and expanded through industry connections you won’t find anywhere else — from NVIDIA partnerships and Adobe/Figma portfolio reviews to collaborations with CNN, UNICEF, Google, and the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.
What We Do
Cutting-edge interdisciplinary practice
Going to graduate school gives you the time and space to develop your work and accelerate your skills. At CCA, you’ll have distinctive opportunities to make the most of this investment: expert guidance, professional connections, hybrid-making opportunities, raw materials, and hands-on experiences.
Our graduate education integrates technology critically and conceptually across design, visual arts, architecture, and writing. We emphasize professional practice and in-demand skill sets that prepare you to thrive as an interdisciplinary changemaker — blending theory, practice, and collaboration across fields.
Alumni create culture and change
Reshaping SF’s art scene, Apple, and more with an MFA in Design
Reshaping SF’s art scene, Apple, and more with an MFA in Design
What do MFA design students do after graduation? Alumni from collaborative design studio Quality Time share the foundation of their work and the importance of community-building.
Leading product design at LinkedIn with an MDes in Interaction Design
Leading product design at LinkedIn with an MDes in Interaction Design
Kristine Yuen (MDes Interaction Design 2016) reflects on her user-centric design approach and motivation to mentor aspiring young designers.
Illuminating invisible histories with an MA in Visual & Critical Studies
Illuminating invisible histories with an MA in Visual & Critical Studies
Graduating from CCA with an MA in Visual & Critical Studies in 2016, Veronica Jackson is now a practicing artist whose work draws on cultural research and personal narrative.
Building rooms in nature with an MArch in Architecture
Building rooms in nature with an MArch in Architecture
Martin Francis Hitch (MArch Architecture 2023) is the co-founder of i/thee, a family-and-friends design studio celebrating the co-sentience of everything in the environment: living and non-living, past and present, I and thee.
Reclaiming hidden narratives with an MFA in Fine Arts
Reclaiming hidden narratives with an MFA in Fine Arts
In a profile on her rapidly growing career, Trina Michelle Robinson (MFA Fine Arts 2022) describes how she has reclaimed cotton to tell a new kind of story.
Redesigning healthcare systems with a DMBA in Design Strategy
Redesigning healthcare systems with a DMBA in Design Strategy
Connections that matter
San Francisco is a one-of-a-kind location for graduate school, where art, design, and technology converge. You’ll collaborate with technology leaders, museums and galleries, and global nonprofits, gaining experiences that carry your work beyond the classroom and into the world. Award-winning faculty who are actively shaping their fields will be your guide. For us, mentorship is a model for creating meaningful impact through creative practice.
Award-winning faculty lead the way
Josh Faught: Weaving queer histories as a Guggenheim Fellow
Josh Faught: Weaving queer histories as a Guggenheim Fellow
CCA textiles professor was awarded Guggenheim Fellowship in Fine Arts.
Justin Lokitz: Innovating global business design strategy
Justin Lokitz: Innovating global business design strategy
Graduating from CCA with an MBA in Design Strategy in 2014, Justin Lokitz is now a best-selling author, startup entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Plantfully Systems, and professor and chair of the MBA in Design Strategy program at the college.
Irene Cheng: Rethinking architecture with research fellowships
Irene Cheng: Rethinking architecture with research fellowships
Architecture and Interior Design assistant professor Irene Cheng’s workday doesn’t end when she leaves campus.
David Huffman: Expanding Afrofuturism in acclaimed exhibitions
David Huffman: Expanding Afrofuturism in acclaimed exhibitions
David Huffman, a tenured faculty member of CCA’s Painting & Drawing and MFA in Fine Arts programs, discusses how to push the professional artist.
Angela Hennessy & Lauren D’Amato: Driving the Bay Area art scene
Angela Hennessy & Lauren D’Amato: Driving the Bay Area art scene
Congratulations to Illustration faculty member Lauren D’Amato and Associate Professor of Critical Studies and Graduate Fine Arts Angela Hennessy.
Jasmin Darznik: Writing best-selling novels that span cultures
Jasmin Darznik: Writing best-selling novels that span cultures
Chair of MFA Writing Jasmin Darznik charts a bold literary career, from her family’s immigrant story to the American Jazz age.
Meet Us
Experience your future in action
There are many ways to connect with us and explore what graduate school at CCA has to offer. From admissions events and campus tours to portfolio reviews and one-on-one conversations with our counselors, you’ll gain valuable insights into our programs, community, and resources.
Attend graduate admissions events
Register now for valuable informational events for prospective graduate students, including Q&As with program chairs, current students, alumni, and faculty and discussions with admissions and financial aid counselors.
Tour graduate spaces on campus
See the studios, talk to current graduate students, meet the community, and discover how CCA graduate programs can help you transform your practice. Register for an in-person tour.
Register for National Portfolio Day
Meet with admissions professionals from art and design colleges across the country and gain valuable feedback on your application portfolio. Find a session near you.
Connect 1:1 with a graduate counselor
We can answer your questions about CCA, provide information about your graduate program of interest, arrange a campus visit, explain the application process, and much more. Schedule an appointment.
Check out CCA public programming
Many upcoming lectures, screenings, and events in our virtual spaces are free and open to the public, including weekly chats with faculty from various divisions. View the exhibitions and public programming calendar.
Keep Exploring
Learn more about CCA graduate life
Find funding for graduate school
Get application deadlines and details
Join a studio culture focused on innovation