Traditional professional development lacks the creative, experiential, and differentiated learning needs of 21st-century teachers. Although some studies examine pre-service training, many in-service teachers' learning needs are not met during school professional development due to the passive learning environment. Traditional professional development does not adequately prepare educators, lacks explicit instruction, neglects their learning needs and contrary to adult learning theory, and is a passive form of learning. Active professional development provides practice during the learning process, which directly impacts retention of new knowledge professional development can encourage educators to maintain dual roles as teacher and student, enabling them to struggle with each role, deepening their understanding of curriculum, pedagogy, and student perspective. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to identify what experiences teachers would perceive as valuable when participating in creative experiential professional development (CEPD), and how it relates to their knowledge, skill enhancement, and ability to engage students. This criterion sample of 14 third grade teachers from schools in a large school district in Southern California was provided a creative experiential professional development where teachers reflected on the process they experienced. Multiple Intelligences were used as a lens to identify the effectiveness of CEPD for each of the eight intelligences. Four positive and seven negative themes were identified from the data. The research findings helped create and solidify a best practices creative professional development model for instructional leaders to use to promote creativity using experiential differentiated learning opportunities for teachers and the students in their classrooms. Future study could examine if the 11 themes would be consistent or would new ones be uncovered due to a larger group of participants. Future research could explore how the CEPD model could be used in other fields. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]