Creativity involves bringing new things into being or seeing things differently. Thinking creatively almost always involves using our imaginations. To communicate or collaborate well with each other, we need to use our imaginations to see into each other's hearts and minds; simple words are seldom enough. The alternative is to shut down, to stay in our own familiar reality. That's the opposite of creativity. There's little aliveness there.
As we engage more deeply and fully with people who are different from us or situations that are different from what we're used to, novel ideas, perspectives and possibilities often emerge "out of the blue" (as in brainstorming). This can also happen when we empty ourselves out, let go, and open up to the "larger intelligences" that seem to want to move through us or to redirect our lives in some way. In these cases, the creativity seems to come from beyond us, or from an alive space among us, or some collective field we're immersed in.
I sometimes say that we can tell co-intelligence is at work when something desirable and unexpected was discovered or formed through an interaction between two or more living beings. Creativity feeds every type of co-intelligence.
Creativity Web: Resources for Creativity and Innovation
Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas by Edward deBono
Creating Minds: An Anatomy of Creativity by Howard Gardner