CTY published the Imagine magazine that provided educational opportunities and resources and student-written content for middle and high school students.

[3] Dr. Julian Stanley, a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins University, launched the initial talent search in 1972, aiming to discover and support intellectually gifted students.

However, in 1980, CTY expanded its reach by initiating a Talent Search across the United States to identify gifted students.

While the program at St. Mary's concluded by the end of the 1981 summer, CTY's growth was propelled by two locations: Carlisle and Lancaster, which played a significant role in shaping the organization's present-day stature.

Los Angeles also joined the CTY network in 1992, contributing to the organization's growing number of sites and enrolled students.

By 1992, CTY had approximately 6,000 students enrolled in summer programs across twelve sites in the United States and abroad.

The former Executive Director, Dr. William G. Durden, expressed that this change would enable the organization to better address the challenges of talent advancement in the 21st century and work more effectively with individual students.

As the organization approached the turn of the century, they recognized that the name "Center for Talented Youth" better reflected their mission, leading to the official change back to CTY on January 1, 2000.

After reverting to the name Center for Talented Youth (CTY), the organization embarked on a period of expansion by adding more sites and programs.

In 2010, Dr. Lea Ybarra stepped down as site director, and on August 1, 2011, Dr. Elaine Tuttle Hansen assumed the position.

[8] Affected students found an outlet for their outrage on Facebook, where they called CTY the "Fyre Festival of Nerd Camps".

"[15] About 15,300 students from 76 countries participated in CTY's talent search in the 2021-22 school year, and 27 percent of them qualified for the awards ceremony.

Based on their performance on these tests, they either received High or Grand Honors certificates and medals, along with receptions from notable CTY alumni.

[17] Former CTY executive director Elaine Tuttle Hansen (2011–2018) was interviewed by National Public Radio and published on the Opinion-Editorial pages of The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times, and The Baltimore Sun.