I believe everyone, is creative in his/her own ways, thinking is what makes us different from one another , one might have the chance to build a technology that will transport the world further, its his thinking mentality that will either allow him to invent it, or do away with that idea of his.
Hawking didn't just become creative , he's thought helped him too..
But he did a lot of research before he could come up with his theories, they were not manufactured out of thin Air