CCA educates students to shape culture through the practice and critical study of the arts. The college prepares its students for lifelong creative work and service to their communities through a curriculum in fine art, architecture, design, and writing.

California College of the Arts (CCA) was founded in 1907 by Frederick Meyer to provide an education for artists and designers that would integrate both theory and practice in the arts.

In 1936 the school was renamed the California College of Arts and Crafts, with Meyer as its first president, a position he held until his retirement in 1944.

In recent years the Oliver Art Center opened on the Oakland campus, housing a professional gallery. New majors have been added: industrial design, fashion design, creative writing, and visual studies, as well as four new graduate programs in curatorial practice, design, visual and critical studies, and writing.

In 1996 the college opened a new permanent San Francisco campus to house the architectural and design programs. The 120,000-square-foot facility was completed in 1999 with the opening of Carroll Weisel Hall, providing much-needed classroom, studio, and administrative space; individual graduate studios; and a first-class exhibition space, the Logan Galleries.

In 2003, recognizing the growth of the school and its broad curriculum, the college was renamed California College of the Arts.