Influenced by the successes of homeschooling and self-design, a diverse consortium of educators gathered and Self-Design Graduate Institute was born in 2010 with a commitment to Holistic Education and an emphasis on spiritual philosophy, humanistic psychology and social justice. It changed names to the Graduate Institute for Transformative Learning and flourished until 2020 when it merged with the Independent Master’s Program of Antioch University.

By the end of 2021, the partnership with Antioch proved too restrictive. Change was needed. Two Councils, comprised of students, faculty and staff, convened to envision the future of the organization. Transformation, clearly defined and embedded in every aspect of the organization, emerged as the unmistakable clarion call of the councils.

We patiently redesigned TLF according to the Council’s direction and added low, low cost learning through partnership affiliations, to create an emergent diverse pedagogy and organization structure rooted in Transformation.