The Path to the Person Inside : It seems as if everyone is getting into ‘The Artist’s Way,’ a guide to creativity. Itstheme? Indulge your dreams in the here and now.

A lot of people have been spotted lately with that book--a shiny large format paperback, often dogeared from use, with its distinctive cover design of Mt. Fuji.

It took three years on the market to make “The Artist’s Way,” published in 1992 by Tarcher/Putnam, a bestseller. Written by Julia Cameron with Mark Bryan, the guidebook, subtitled “A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” is selling at the rate of 30,000 copies a month.

Save for brief mentions in the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle and Chicago Tribune, the book has received no coverage in a major publication. But word-of-mouth has pushed overall sales to more than 400,000 copies. The book has topped bestseller lists in Canada for three months and rights have been sold in Europe and Latin America.

“This is among our top five sellers,” says Doug Dutton, owner of Dutton’s in Brentwood. “We have a writing section with books on how to write, how to create a plot, nuts-and-bolts books, and then there are spiritual New Age books telling you how to get in touch with your real self.

“This an interesting nexus of the two, and seems to address questions that a lot of people have about the meaning of life, and how they fit into that. We simply put this book out on the table, and it seems to sell itself.”

“The Artist’s Way” is also spawning a social phenomenon as people from varying professional and economic backgrounds--painters, homemakers, pianists, lawyers, business people--band together to work its precepts as a group activity.

At Citibank in New York, 35 employees were introduced to “The Artist’s Way” by Catherine Allen, the company’s vice president of business development and strategic alliances. “I’ve given it to people who are on the cutting edge of technology and new business/new production development,” Allen says.

Sunday nights at a small space on Ventura Boulevard in Studio City, writer Suzanne Bussard facilitates a series of “Artist’s Way” programs.

As a result of a large turnout for its spring class, UCLA Extension will repeat its “Artist’s Way” course in the writers’ program this fall.

“The Artist’s Way” is essentially a 12-week course, with pointers on solving the blocks to creativity.

Cameron writes about “crazymakers,” those “personalities who create storm centers” and distract us from our art. She also examines how we become “shadow artists”: a would-be fiction writer who instead works at a newspaper; a potential musician who remains safe as an artist manager; even marrying or dating people who pursue a career we long for. Then there’s the “virtue trap”--sabotaging ourselves by being nice and helpful when all we want is to be left alone to pursue our dreams.

There are two dictates to working the book: Immediately upon rising, one must write three pages in longhand of whatever comes to mind. The authors call these musings “Morning Pages.” The second imperative is to go alone on a fun, weekly outing.

Then there are what writer/ teacher Bryan calls “games” or “toys,” exercises to enhance self-awareness. Fifteen seconds are allowed for each of these tasks:

* Number from 1 to 5 the things you love to do. Don’t think about it, don’t censor it, just get them down.

* As quickly as you can, list imaginary lives you would love to lead.

So, you love silky lingerie. And you secretly long to be a ballerina. “The Artist’s Way” mandates that you immediately follow your heart. Go to Victoria’s Secret and buy that silky blue camisole that will leave you feeling slinky and sexy. Or sign up for a dance class or get a ticket to “Swan Lake.”

Cameron and Bryan, who also co-wrote “The Money Drunk: 90 days to Financial Freedom” (Ballantine, 1992), are in increasing demand as speakers. The two will appear at the annual convention of the Assn. for Transpersonal Psychology, Aug. 3-6, in Monterey.

With their teachings now in the public domain, it was perhaps inevitable that businesses would come calling with offers to franchise “The Artist’s Way.” Cameron and Bryan said no. Declining to give specifics, Cammeron said, “I don’t think that’s right. The point of ‘Artist’s Way’ was to help people heal their pain. I would rather have them buy a book and get together with other people for free than have to pay $1,500 and fire walk for a weekend.”

Bryan, of Santa Fe, N.M., also lectures and consults on creativity in business. Screenwriter/journalist Cameron, who lives in Taos, N.M., has just finished “The Vein of Gold,” the sequel to “Artist’s Way,” due out in the fall of 1996.

While in Los Angeles recently, she helped Bryan facilitate an “Artist’s Way” workshop, part of a series at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore Annex in West Hollywood. Following the three-hour session, Cameron joined Bryan for an interview.

Question: Not to be disrespectful, but what qualifies you to teach creativity?

Cameron: People get this attitude all the time. “Artist’s Way” evolves out of the kind of healing that comes from practicing an art form. I had practiced my art form all of my life. I have been a journalist, screenwriter, playwright, poet and a songwriter. Out from that experience came certain lessons of what you need to do.

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Q: What are your writing credits?

Cameron: I had in some ways a typical L.A. career. I had movies bought and not made. This killed me. Some of my best scripts are living on the shelves of Paramount. I was married for two years to filmmaker Martin Scorsese. [They have a daughter, Domenica, now 18.] My baptism by fire into screenwriting was doing some work on “Taxi Driver” and “New York, New York,” and a documentary, “American Boy.” I later shot an independent feature film in Chicago called “God’s Will.”

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Q: How would you define creativity?

Bryan: It is joy, a contact with the life force. The hallmark of a lot of creativity is excitement, thrill.

Cameron: Everybody is creative. We have spent our lives asking the question, “What if I am not any good?” The real question is, “What if I am good and am afraid to let myself do it?” And why do we always have to talk about excellence? Too often this question is raised before people become involved in process. It’s a way to convince themselves that they shouldn’t do the work.

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Q: Does writing that monologue or playing that piece really spill over into the rest of our lives?

Bryan: Yes, because now I’m not blaming my job or my wife from keeping me from doing it anymore. They will feel the vibrance.

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Q: What happens for people who, in their quest for creativity, become dissatisfied with their lifestyles or their jobs?

Cameron: Very often people are afraid if they work “The Artist’s Way” they will have to quit their job, leave their husband or wife, or have to dissect their lives as they know it. We would say leave your life exactly as it is for a while, [but] add to it. Some people stay doing exactly the same thing, but let themselves start taking piano lessons, or shoot pictures again or give themselves permission to attend concerts for the love of it.

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Q: You don’t see yourself as a guru?

Cameron: No. “Morning Pages” are intended for people to de-guruize their bosses, their teachers, anybody.

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Q: To what does your sequel, “The Vein of Gold,” refer?

Cameron: In my reporter’s life I had a chance to interview [the late] director Martin Ritt. He said he believed actors had a vein of gold, and if an actor is cast within his or her vein of gold, they always got a brilliant performance. I never forgot this, and started to look for this in people. This book picks up where “Artist’s Way” left off. It looks very playful and full of little “toys.” When people do these exercises they will become more comfortable in their own skins.