In 2002, Craig Paul Nowak was awarded The Outstanding Artist Award from Brighton High School, a school he didn't even attend at the time. Later, Nowak earned his BFA (cum laude) from The College for Creative Studies, in 2006. During Nowak's senior year at CCS, he managed the U245 Student Gallery, where he organized six successful exhibitions and 5 solo shows.

After graduating, Nowak's art was featured in art fairs throughout the United States and France, the most notable of which were Art Santa Fe (New Mexico), Art NOW (Miami, FL), and The Docks Art Fair (Lyon, France). His paintings were also published in magazines like Modern Painters Magazine, NY Arts Magazine, Chicago Gallery News, Arte Al Dia, and Arte Al Limite, amongst other places.

In 2008, Nowak was offered a one-month artist residency with the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs. He followed that residency up with a three-month plein air painting residency in rural Tularosa, NM.

Eventually, Nowak returned back home to Detroit where he became the Manager and Lead Curator of Art Effect Gallery. While overseeing Art Effect, Nowak curated six exhibitions and organized one in-house artist residency. Eventually, Nowak accepted an apprenticeship position under stone sculptor, Somers Randolph, in Santa Fe, NM. Nowak's apprenticeship lasted 9-months, whereafter, he returned back to Detroit for a three-month artist residency at Red Bull House of Art. The art that Nowak made during his Red Bull residency was later exhibited at ARTPRIZE in Grand Rapids, MI. A year after that, in 2014, Nowak was awarded the "Best Local Artist" Award from Real Detroit Weekly. After being recognized by RDW, Nowak spent 3-months animating in Milan, Italy.

In 2016, Nowak returned to Red Bull House of Art as a curator. He curated a face-themed exhibition entitled, Re:semblance before beginning to work on a 19ft x 9ft painting/collage project in collaboration with students at Henry Ford Academy. That painting, entitled "Dream World", was acquired by The College for Creative Studies and remains on permanent display in their collection at the Taubman Center in Detroit. It also inspired Nowak to pursue a teaching career in 2017.

Nowak began working as a Teaching Artist for Community Arts Partnership and continued teaching until the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2019.

Prior to the pandemic, Nowak accepted a position as the Creative Expressions Program Manager at Gesher Human Services. He continues to serve in that position today, where he organizes a comprehensive arts education and enrichment program for adults with intellectual, developmental, and mental disabilities.

While managing the Creative Expressions Program at Gesher Human Services, Nowak has organized countless arts classes and activities in partnership with cultural institutions like, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, College for Creative Studies, Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Institute of Arts, Matrix Theatre, and more. Over the years, in collaboration with his colleagues at Gesher Human Services, Nowak has organized arts events that took place at the Detroit Opera House, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), the Ann Arbor Art Fair, and other notable venues and events.

In 2021, Nowak received an Employee of the Year award for the work he's done with Creative Expressions and Gesher Human Services. He is a graduate of the Incompass Michigan Leadership Academy, and he recently received the President's Award from the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center's 2024 Michigan Fine Arts Competition. In September 2024, Nowak will be a featured artist at ARTPRIZE in Grand Rapids, MI.