MILO DE PRIETO

What is a Neurocognitive Strategist & Creative Developer?

WHAT

I do

Why “Neurocognitive Strategist & Creative Developer”

As a neurocognitive strategist, I draw on how the brain makes meaning—using learning science, psychology, and narrative design to create practical pathways for growth.

As a creative developer, I work at the frontier where art becomes a research method—translating insight and imagination into tangible systems, products, and environments.

The two converge in a single aim—the art and science of quality of life. Every framework, residency, or curriculum I design is built to make wellbeing not an abstraction, but a lived, creative practice.

What I do is called Tech Transfer, I take sound theory and make it livable. My work translates cognition, culture, and design into practical systems for learning, creative mastery, and organizational growth. The throughline is consistent: align purpose with how the brain actually makes meaning so that progress becomes inevitable.

Quality of Life is Neurological

At the core of my work is a conviction: quality of life is not an abstraction, it is biological. The human brain has structural needs—sleep, rhythm, focus, belonging, and meaning—that are as essential as food or air. When these needs are honored, life becomes liveable, purposeful, and creative. When neglected, no amount of wealth or success can compensate. My passion is to design systems—educational, artistic, organizational—that make these needs visible and achievable in daily life.

Beyond that, I’m working on 3 core theories:

The Purpose Throughline

Every brain is driven by the Narrative Imperative: it never stops telling itself stories to make sense of reality. The Purpose Throughline aligns that constant narration with deliberate action. By turning meaning-making into a clear throughline—from spark, to interpretation, to purposeful action—people and organizations can move from scattered effort to coherent growth. For most individuals I develop this into The Purpose Profile, for artists it’s the Artist’s Lens Profile, and for organizations and projects it is The Identity and Positioning Atlas (See links in footer, The Atlas is in Precision Tools, the Artist’s Lens Profile is part of DRIVEN ART Residency).

Conceptual Thinking

Beyond procedure lies the ability to hold complexity without collapse. Conceptual Thinking is the skill of weaving many moving parts into coherent strategies that honor nuance while producing practical results. It is the difference between being buried by complexity and using it as raw material for clarity, innovation, and resilience. This kind of thinking forms the highest modes of problem solving while it also fuels real learning at every age. The best education is empowered through the practical application of conceptual curriculum. For adults, dynamic conceptual thinking is the solution to being relevant throughout life personally and professionally.

Learning Progressions

Mastery is not magic, it is constructed. Every domain is made of building blocks, stacked and interacting to produce higher skill. Learning Progressions make this explicit: mapping the scaffolds so learners see how today’s effort becomes tomorrow’s capability. Whether in literacy, numeracy, art, or leadership, this approach transforms growth from guesswork into an intentional, transparent process. To this structure I add Dynamic Systems Theory to create curriculum and plans of study that are truly adaptive, relevant to each human, and effective for achieving real mastery through clear strategies and actionable steps. We are pursuing applications of this research in k-12 education and our Builder’s Series (see the link in footer).

WHY

I started ARTESIAN

ARTESIAN is a living academy—part method, part movement—built to turn cognition, culture, and restorative intelligence into environments, tools, and programs that make life truly livable. I launched it to work in consortium with other passionate builders, so my research doesn’t sit on a shelf: it becomes residencies, curricula, products, and spaces that run, test, evolve, and scale.

WHO

I am

I’ve spent decades studying how the brain makes meaning and applying it where it counts—from designing conceptual curricula that transform struggling students, to building cognitive-based tools for new technologies, to helping teams and artists rewire how they create, communicate, and grow. Call it identity, positioning, or strategy; underneath it’s the brain’s meaning-making loop turned into an actionable narrative. With that, ambitious ideas become real.

My Experience — Teaching & facilitation (30+ years)

I’ve taught across K–12 through university, including courses in education, journalism, media writing, and strategic communication, as well as faculty training on AI as a scaffold (not a shortcut). I’ve led schools and teacher development, built K–5 literacy and numeracy frameworks, and designed higher-ed toolkits that preserve authentic student voice while strengthening critical capacity.

  • Education leadership — classroom teacher to deputy headmaster overseeing curriculum, training, and a $3M budget; built foster-care supports; partnered across systems.
  • Conceptual curriculum — K–5 literacy and numeracy frameworks; science-of-reading–aligned progressions; braided conceptual math and comprehension.
  • Creative & cultural systems — founded ARTESIAN; designed and ran artist residencies; produced media (incl. NYT Company); built sustainable models for cultural hubs.
  • AI & higher education — faculty/student frameworks where AI acts as a “pack animal” that carries load while humans keep authorship and thought.

HOW

To work with me

DRIVEN ART functions as a work retreat model, tailored to a predetermined period of time. The program is iterative and modular:

Use the contact form below to start a conversation about coaching, residency placements, collaborations, or speaking.

Unless we clearly and deliberately state otherwise, we do not keep your personal data other than to respond to your inquiries.