Visit
Tour our campus and discover why California College of the Arts is the right place for you.
Welcome
A creative community unlike anywhere else
Learn your craft and hone your skills on our single, residential campus
California College of the Arts is located in the urban Potrero Hill neighborhood. Here, you’ll find the Nave, a sunlit corridor in our main building surrounded by student studios that are the hub of CCA’s critique culture. Nearby are our student residence halls, Founders Hall and Blattner Hall, as well as the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts.
View inside our studios, student center, makerspaces, and more.
Find the freedom to explore
The confluence of our prime location, our diverse creative community, and our interdisciplinary curriculum focused on socially engaged projects is what makes life at CCA so unique. Here in San Francisco, we’re connected to the contemporary art scene, as well as industry partners we work with to build design-led technological solutions.
Our campus offers state-of-the-art facilities and a stimulating environment to inspire students’ creativity. Come see for yourself. Experiencing CCA firsthand is the best way to determine why you belong at the top art and design school in the country.
You can take a self-guided virtual tour, make a one-on-one appointment with an admissions advisor, or attend a virtual admissions event from wherever you’d like.
Campus Tours
Schedule a campus tour or take our virtual tour
Our admissions staff offers guided tours of our campus every week. All visitors must register in advance. We are unable to accommodate walk-in guests or unaccompanied visitors on campus at this time. Schedule a tour using the link below or contact [email protected] if you have questions.
If you aren’t able to visit in person, take a self-guided virtual tour on your own time. Then schedule time to meet with an admissions counselor via Zoom, or phone; we’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have.
What to expect on a campus tour
A CCA student ambassador or admissions counselor will guide you on your campus visit. Preregistration is required for all campus tours and tour capacity is limited to 20 guests or fewer. We encourage all campus visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The tour lasts approximately 50 minutes and takes visitors through our light-filled main building, home to the Nave, painting and illustration classrooms and studios, Hybrid Lab, furniture bench room, wood and metal shops, design and architecture studios, and computer labs; our student residence, Founders Hall; and a preview of our campus expansion project—an extension of our main campus with all-new state-of-the-art facilities, adaptable maker spaces, galleries, and more—opening by the time the next class of students arrives.
All tours include a Q&A session with an admissions counselor who will provide information about our programs, financial aid opportunities, portfolio requirements, and application process, and who will answer any other questions you might have.
Graduate students in their Dogpatch studio space.
Graduate tours
Rather than stick to one siloed path of study, we tend to work across multiple disciplines, pulling inspiration from the Bay Area. You’ll see these hybridity principles and creative adjacencies on full display during your tour of our campus in San Francisco.
You’ll explore the main building, where graduate students often work as teaching assistants; graduate student housing in the new, nearby Founders Hall; individual graduate program studios, including the graduate design studio and the graduate architecture studio; the writers’ studio and its Japanese-inspired garden, idyllic for writing; and the Graduate Center, home to the graduate computer lab, VCS program spaces, exhibitions catalogs, library, and more. At the end of your tour, we recommend you visit the prestigious CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, where graduate students go to view exhibitions and participate in gallery events.
Explore off-campus graduate studios
Our MFA in Fine Arts program offers individual studio spaces in the American Industrial Center in San Francisco’s thriving Dogpatch neighborhood. Request an appointment with admissions staff to learn more about this space.
Group tours
Our campus tours (excluding residence hall visits) can accommodate your group of up to 20 students. These tours are for groups of high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors or college transfer students only.
To help maintain lower population density on campus and prioritize the use of spaces for our students and faculty, we have limited capacity for group tours at this time. Group tours are by request, and subject to availability and capacity limitations. We encourage all tour attendees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
To request a group tour, please email [email protected] with information about your group size and interests. We require three weeks advance notice for all group tours. We’ll contact you via email upon receipt of your request to further assist in scheduling your group tour.
Admissions events
Visit our campus during an admissions event! During the year, we offer opportunities for prospective or admitted students to visit our campus, such as Undergraduate Open House, San Francisco’s National Portfolio Day, and CCA’s Admitted Student Day. Please note: these events require advance registration.
RSVP for upcoming events
Virtual Tour
Look inside labs, studios, and more
📍 Welcome home, Chimeras
Explore CCA's creative campus from wherever you are. As you tour shops, studios, and residence halls, you'll hear stories from those who know CCA best—our students and faculty—and experience the spaces where we gather and create. It's the closest you can get to our home without leaving yours.
For prospective undergraduate students
Take a quick spin around campus in our Meet CCA Tour (left), or explore the full Chimera experience in our Undergraduate Tour (right).
For prospective graduate students
Tour CCA's 60 shops and studios. You'll see first-hand why San Francisco is the best place to earn a prestigious graduate degree. View the graduate experience.
Portfolio Reviews
Get advice before you apply
A portfolio should make a big impression
Our admissions counselors can help
When you apply for admission to CCA, whether you’re enrolling as an undergraduate student or a graduate candidate, you’ll have to submit a portfolio of work that demonstrates your creative achievement and potential.
This portfolio helps us make admissions decisions, as well as decisions regarding scholarship recipients, award amounts, financial aid, course placement, and more. In short, you want your portfolio to rise to the top of the stack. We’re happy to help you refine your portfolio so that it shows the best of your abilities, while also providing everything we need to see.
CCA admissions staff offers undergraduate portfolio reviews by Zoom only. To request an appointment, use the appropriate link below to put something on our calendars, call +1 800-447-1ART, text +1 415-610-7004, or email [email protected].
Graduate admissions counselors cannot offer feedback on your portfolio work, but are happy to answer technical questions about portfolio requirements, our program options, or the application process. Use the link below to request an appointment to speak to a graduate admissions counselor by phone or Zoom.
National Portfolio Day
Meet CCA at an NPD event
Connect with CCA representatives and admissions counselors by attending an undergraduate or graduate National Portfolio Day (NPD). Attend NPD for insights on your application portfolio from CCA’s admissions team and learn about CCA’s programs and application process.
Other portfolio resources
Maps & Directions
Get the quickest routes to campus
CCA is located at 1111 8th Street in San Francisco, between Hooper and Irwin.
Parking
Limited parking is available along streets adjacent to our campus with a four-hour time limit.
Public transportation
Our campus is accessible by BART with Muni bus connections at Civic Center station or 16th Street station or by Muni with nearby stops for the 19, 22, and 55 bus lines.
CCA’s creative culture is rooted in our vibrant and inclusive community