IMO CTCL is a marketing tool that came out of a book written long ago. It is a way for a number of small schools to get their names out there as a group.
While you may get some college ideas from the CTCL book, IMO each CTCL school must be researched independently to determine the fit/appropriateness for any given student. There are many sources other than the CTCL book that you can use to research individual schools (the college’s website, the common data set, other guide books etc.).
And yes, of course any college can change a person’s life.