Creative Giftedness: A Fifty-Year Retrospective Study.

This article examines the development and international dissemination of the concept of creative giftedness in K-12 education over a 50-year period, using the 1972 Marland Report—which provided the first federal definition of giftedness including creative or productive thinking—as a foundational reference. Through a retrospective keyword analysis of 2,564 articles from 16 gifted education journals across the United States, Europe, Türkiye, Korea, and Oceania, the study identifies three historical phases: early psychological research precursors (1900–1950), a global awakening following J.P. Guilford's 1950s creativity framework (1950–2000), and recent trends emphasizing democratization and cyber-creativity (2000–2025). Content analysis revealed eight main thematic clusters in the literature, with evolving emphases on talent identification, teacher practices, and curriculum design, alongside ongoing challenges in aligning policy, assessment, and instruction—particularly for underserved populations. The article highlights the continuing need for evidence-based practices addressing creative giftedness in diverse educational contexts, including emerging considerations related to artificial intelligence and digital creativity.