Art Center College of Design

Art Center College of Design (commonly referred to as Art Center) is a private college located in Pasadena, California. It is one of the leading art and design colleges in the world. Art Center offers undergraduate and graduate programs in a variety of art and design fields.
Art Center is particularly known for its Product Design programs. It also has notable photography, graphic design, advertising design, illustration, fine art, film, environmental design and entertainment design programs. Art Center offers graduate degrees in Fine Art, Media Design, Broadcast Cinema and Industrial Design.

The College maintains two campuses in Pasadena; both are considered architecturally notable. It has traditionally maintained a strong "real world" focus, emphasizing craftsmanship, technique, and professionalism Instructors are working professionals, and projects are intended to map to real-life assignments with some being sponsored by industry or nonprofit organizations including Nike, Disney, NASA, and BMW. During the past decade, Art Center has developed programs and projects that focus on design's potential to generate positive social change and improve people's lives through the College-wide initiative, Designmatters. In recognition of Art Center's commitment to addressing social and humanitarian issues through design, in 2003 Art Center became the first design college to ever receive NGO (non-governmental organization) status by the United Nations. Art Center offers programs year-round with three terms per year. Administrators and faculty want to develop "real world" work scenarios as much as possible.