Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 21 undergraduate and 11 graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing.

Two Campuses

San Francisco: CCA's San Francisco campus is located in the Potrero Hill neighborhood, next to the city's design district and within just blocks of the University of California at San Francisco's Mission Bay research campus.

Oakland: Four beautifully landscaped acres in the charming Rockridge district comprise the historic Oakland campus, located just two miles south of the University of California at Berkeley.

To better understand how CCA's two campuses work to unite a single community, including where specific academic programs are based, see Two-Campus College.

Campuses combined, CCA currently enrolls approximately 1,950 full-time students.

Accreditation & Degrees

CCA is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC), the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD), the National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), and Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA).

CCA grants the following degrees:

• bachelor of architecture (BArch)
• bachelor of arts (BA)
• bachelor of fine arts (BFA)
• master of architecture (MArch)
• master of arts (MA)
• master of business administration (MBA)
• master of fine arts (MFA)
• minor in Visual Studies
• minor in Writing and Literature

Center for Art and Public Life

The Center for Art and Public Life focuses on important issues in community development, service learning in arts education, new models of practice in community-based arts, and cultural diversity and youth development through the arts.

Wattis

The Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts serves as a forum for the presentation and discussion of international contemporary art and curatorial practice.

Alumni

Among the college's noted alumni:

• painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders
• ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos
• filmmaker Wayne Wang
• conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim
• designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl

CCA's Mission

California College of the Arts educates students to shape culture and society through the practice and critical study of art, architecture, design, and writing. Benefitting from its San Francisco Bay Area location, the college prepares students for lifelong creative work by cultivating innovation, community engagement, and social and environmental responsibility.