[music] At the time, it was one of the most ambitious projects undertaken by local television.

Few people in this part of the country had ever seen anything quite like it A rock opera produced by a local church, written and even starring local high school students.

If I wanted your opinion, I would ask you for it now, but I didn't then I never will.

Shall we drop the subject now?

It was a nice production performed in Oklahoma City, parts of Kansas City, Des Moines, Iowa, Wausau, Wisconsin, a whole of an I-35 stretch in the summer of 71, I think.

And, a very enjoyable, a very enjoyable experience.

The fight scenes, so dramatic, had well rehearsed onlookers during taping.

Not exactly sure what was happening.

Call the police thinking a riot was about to start.

How can you speak so harshly when our son needs sympathy?

You only have confusion when you speak so hastily.

I had an in.

It was written primarily by my brother and and some other folks, so I had a little bit of an in that some might not have had, but so that was that was a pretty it was an ambitious project for, for a group, written by all, all, all teenagers.

There were no and none of the music was written by anybody out of high school.

It helped launch what turned out to be a hugely successful career.

For one of the young men who had a leading role.

No, not in Hollywood and not on Broadway.

This man's career has been made at the Drive-In.

And in a way, I think that was my first formal leadership experience.

And kind of so we talked about this.

I this authorship through the arts in one way or another, individually, collectively, really helping a young person express themselves and begin to see themselves differently than they would otherwise.

Today, Cliff Hudson is the chief executive officer of Sonic Corporation.

He views the experience in that long ago rock opera and the wisdom of his junior high school music teacher with setting him out on the path to success.

By the time I was a senior in high school, I was our student body president at our high school, and I see that I truly see that as a direct outgrowth of this encouragement by my junior high school music instructor.

It was a very, very direct she recognized certain things in me that you pulled pulled out of me.

Cliff Hudson continues to draw on the creativity he cultivated years ago on the stage to make his business the success it is today.

There is a lot of creativity just on the marketing aspects of Sonic, and that's a that's a large part of our business.

There are other aspects, I think, of creativity of an organization, how to design it, how to give people, make sure people are motivated.

They have a sense of opportunity, how to get it, how to give people a chance to interact with each other at all levels.

Within our organization.

Creativity plays a big role.

There.

So even in the way Sonic's new corporate headquarters is laid out, no more high rise office space and no top four corner office for the head man.

It's not so much a big deal that I call it unconventional as much as it is.

Space that shows that.

I think we've been we've had some, creativity about how we want to see ourselves living day to day in a work setting so that it, yields great results.

As Cliff Hudson climbed the corporate ladder, he didn't leave his love for music behind.

He created a group called the Sonic Tones, made up of company employee.

Things you know, the interesting thing is, as we have started doing that with our coworkers, it's interesting to see how many people kind of come out of the woodwork within the company.

Fella steps up, hey, I play the saxophone, I play the trumpet, I play the accordion, I play, you know, so on and so forth.

So actual folks stepping up and you, you can tell they're kind of saying, you know, when you add a brass section, you know, remember me, you know, so it's a it's a fun it's a fun thing.

It's also a good thing for arts education.

The sonic tones and other members of the community know more for their real jobs than their musical talents.

Perform every year at the Oklahoma City Arts Spectacular.

The show began in 1998 and has raised almost a half million dollars for a fine arts curriculum, materials and equipment for arts education programs in the Oklahoma City public schools.

Hudson, of course, is also chairman of the Oklahoma City School Board, so he knows a little about the needs.

The resources available for arts education and public schools in Oklahoma is is is inadequate.

And I think it's inadequate by a significant margin.

The focus that we've had to bring in order to have impact with the resources that we do have, I think arts education has often suffered.

And your reaction to some degree can be, you know, what am I going to do about that?

The as a state, I think we have to we really have to come to some decision.

Is this important for us, what kind of resources we're going to dedicate to make sure that that, that that occurs and that is arts education for all children in Oklahoma.

State leaders from both business and political worlds are talking about it.

500 of them met recently at the governor's mansion to discuss a plan called Oklahoma The State of Creativity.

When creativity in the arts can translate to success in all other subjects and in every endeavor, I really believe the only thing that holds us back is ourselves.

Cliff Hudson, the successful businessman and corporate executive... knows that better than anyone.

All he has to do is remember back in the day when he starred in a high school rock opera on the way to Home.

In a way I think that was my first formal leadership experience, and kind of so we talked about this.

I had this authorship through the arts and one way or another, individually, collectively, really helping a young person express themselves and begin to see themselves differently than they would otherwise.

And the fact that's exactly what happened for me as a 13, 14 year old boy in Okla