The Western Behavioral Sciences Institute (WBSI) was founded in 1958, in La Jolla, California, as an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to research, education and advanced study in human affairs.
Faculty and lecturers included leaders and innovators in academia, politics, science, business, and the arts such as Harlan Cleveland, Mary Douglas, Langdon Winner, Stewart Brand, Howard Nemerov, Robert Reich, Walter Orr Roberts, Rusty Schweickart, Nicholas Johnson, and Paul Levinson.
Student participants included CEOs of major corporations, high-ranking U.S. Army generals, scientists, renowned writers and other professionals including Paul Funk, Barry McCaffrey, Gloria Feldt, Donald B. Straus, Marlon Brando, Wesley Clark, Michael Crichton, Wayne Peterson and many others.
In 1991, a deep economic recession in the U. S. seriously affected WBSI's foundation, corporate and governmental supporters, as well as its key individual benefactors.
The Institute is also concerned with fostering improved distance education, enabling the collaboration of independent scholars, using the Internet and mass media for metaprofessional development in mental health, and in the further application of global communications technology to serve humanitarian goals.