Karen and Ken Windle thought private school was the best educational setting for their son, Michael. But it wasn't long before Michael became frustrated. Thinking and writing at the same time proved difficult and he began to hate it.

A friend suggested that the Windles look into another private school that might meet Michael's needs. Karen called the Newark Center for Creative Learning. It was suggested that Michael visit.

At the end of his one-day stay, Michael had three poems to show his parents. He asked to attend school there.

That was five years ago. Michael transferred to NCCL. He was told that it didn't matter how he did his homework as long as it didn't hurt the creative process, Karen said. It opened up a whole world for him.

Michael has been published three times, his mother said. After graduation, he will attend Cab Calloway School of the Arts to pursue writing.

"NCCL took him under their wing," Karen Windle said.

The Windles joined about 200 people to celebrate NCCL's 30th anniversary Saturday at Clayton Hall at the University of Delaware.

Current students, alumni and their families came to renew friendships, peruse old slides and pictures chronicling the school history, and honor founder Ann Brown, who will retire in June.

"She's an example to me and everyone of having a good idea," said Nancy Gilbert, a parent who was with the school from the beginning. "She didn't just plant a seed and leave. She is a person who said, 'I really want this.' "

A friend told Gilbert about Brown, who had started a storefront school in New York. Although Gilbert was not in the market for a private school, she went to a meeting to hear what Brown had to say.

"Kids would have choices," Gilbert recalled, "and not sit at a desk all day. It was a new approach to learning that was liberal."

Many told Brown she was crazy. But parents like Jane and Frank Dilly had complete confidence in her, and they knew their children would, too.

That first year, there were no structured classes, recalled 38-year-old KK Dilly. But the most important lesson learned, she said, was life experience. When they got to public high school, KK said, NCL kids far surpassed the other students socially; they never fell into cliques.

"I found it shocking to be around mean people," KK Dilly said.

When Brown spoke to the crowd, it was a celebration high point. "There were a few things we just knew were right at a gut level and which will never change - being respectful, listening, loving guides; keeping classes small so we can interact in natural was; talk and be involved with materials and each other; do lots of learning outside of the school building; and have fun," she said.

Families like the Windles know firsthand how well the school philosophy extends outside the classrooms. Last year, when Karen Windle was seriously ill and hospitalized, Michael's teacher brought meals to the home and cleaned their bathroom. Ken Windle said the family could not have gotten through that difficult time without the support from the NCCL family.

"They don't teach moral theory," he said, "they practice it. They're revolutionary educators. They changed our life."

NCCL tradition calls for graduating students to receive a fond farewell; Brown was not to be excluded. Brown, notorious for her inability to complete sentences or say 'no', was crowned with a paper hat mounted with a large "30" - for the end. She also received a spinner with phrases on it to help finish those thoughts and an "I can't say no" award.

Kidding aside, Brown, who taught music at the school, was presented with a piano from the crowd.

"What we have created is larger than each of us and stronger because of each of us," Brown said, "and we go and others come and enhance the family with their particular gifts, and NCCL goes on and gets better all the time."