Why Man Creates is a 1968 animated short documentary film that discusses the nature of creativity.

It is divided into eight sections: The Edifice, Fooling Around, The Process, Judgment, A Parable, Digression, The Search, and The Mark.

In 1966 he was hired by the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Company to produce what was essentially a recruiting film for scientists and engineers from the East Coast, which then financed Why Man Creates with a budget of $200,000, which eventually exceeded $400,000.

They attempt to conquer their prey with stones, but fail, so they begin to use spears and bait.

Throughout the rest of the section, the camera tracks upward as the edifice grows ever taller.

Early cave dwellers begin to discover various things such as the lever, the wheel, ladders, agriculture, and fire.

This is followed by a black screen with one man in traditional Greek clothing who states, "All was in chaos 'til Euclid arose and made order."

The organized armies surround the great Roman architecture as they chant, "Hail Caesar!"

A man at a podium states, "Roman law is now in session", and when he bangs his gavel, the architecture collapses.

Darwin is referred to as two men hit each other with their canes arguing whether man is an animal.

Next, the cartooning shows the great speeches and documents on government and society from the American Revolution onward with quotes such as, "All men are created equal...", "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness", "And the government, by the people,...", etc.

Finally, the building stops and the Wright brothers' plane lands on top of it.

It is quickly covered in more advanced planes, in cars, in televisions, and finally in early computers.

Fooling Around displays a random series of perspectives and the creative ideas which come from them.

The Process displays a man who is making artwork from a series of geometrical figures.

Each time he attempts to keep them in place, they move and rearrange themselves, or collapses altogether on the man.

In between, there are three quotations from Thomas Edison, Ernest Hemingway, and Albert Einstein on what one has to do to solve problems.

The Search shows scientists who have been working for years on projects such as solving world hunger (James F. Bonner), developing a cure for Cancer (Renato Dulbecco), or questioning the origin of the universe (Jesse Greenstein).

(Note: each of the scientists shown was working on something which still has not been solved to date, even though each one expected solid results in only a few years.

[7] Portions of this film also appear in the Saul Bass pitch video for the Bell System logo redesign.