Wonderful. I really like your point about the brief. Rather than provide inspiration, it is usually a map of the obvious and what not to do--very little inspiration and a place for some creative people to hide. Having written many of these myself, and lately guiding and approving them, it is rare that they have the impact we all intend. It is really a project management tool that is flawed but clearly needed in a world where CFO's want an accounting of every quarter hour you spend.  

I'd like to think that I created the blue prints of several grand cathedrals over the years but more and more the request feels like creation of strip malls in New Jersey. Fast, cheap and with little uniqueness or enduring quality.

Like-minded individuals striving for the same outcome and goal is the only way to find the intersection you are describing. All too often, we witness the result of minor collisions of thought and output of compromised dreams.