One of Soderbergh's high points is the trifecta of Traffic, Erin Brockovich, and Ocean's Eleven, three films whose major success made him better-known and sought-after than ever. After these, he did a great deal of producing and ran directly toward something more dangerous and less "safe" in Full Frontal.
A string of commercial failures drove Soderbergh into what he recently referred to as "the Schizopolis grace period". It was one part spirit journey and one part a plunge into the mind of Spalding Gray.
Soderbergh would then jump into the bigger-budget movies, with the one-two punch of an Elmore Leonard adaptation and one of the best revenge pictures I've ever seen.
Spalding Gray in Gray's Anatomy