The main campuses of california institute of the arts (CCA) are located in San Francisco and Oakland. Founded by Frederick Meyer in 1907, CCAC was officially named in 1936 (later renamed CCA, which is still in use today). After World War II, many departments were added, such as furniture design, glass, interior design, film, video and so on. Frederick Meyer, the founder of this school, is a famous American landscape architect and occupies a place in the design and craft movement in the 20th century. In addition, famous alumni such as Robert Arnesen, Michael Vanderbilt and Lucile Tenazas are the leaders of contemporary graphic design movement in California.

Well-known alumni of the school include concept artist DennisOppenheim (famous for the installation art of landscape, translated as Denise Oppenheim in Chinese, and famous for his work "Startup Structure #2" in Vancouver at 1982).

Other famous alumni include minimalist sculptor John mccracken, ceramist Manuel Neri, oil painter Carol Canvos and director Wang Ying Wang Ying (director of The Joy Luck Club).

CCa has a new campus in San Francisco. The school is roughly divided into three colleges: art/design/architectural arch. It is the cradle of design talents in the Bay Area. Students wishing to apply are encouraged to visit the campus first. The school is a member of WASC American West Coast Education Alliance, NAAB American Architecture Council, NASAD National Design Association and FIDER National Interior Design Education Research Association.

The teacher-student ratio in this school is about 1: 10. The most popular majors of undergraduate course are graphic design, architecture, painting/sketch oil painting and painting. The international students in this school mainly come from Japanese, Korean and Taiwan Province provinces.