Arts-based knowledge translation (ABKT) is a process that uses diverse art genres (visual arts, performing arts, creative writing, multimedia including video and photography) to communicate research with the goal of catalysing dialogue, awareness, engagement, and advocacy to provide a foundation for social change on important societal issues. We propose a four-stage ABKT planning framework for researchers: (1) setting goals of ABKT by target audiences; (2) choosing art form, medium, dissemination strategies, and methods for collecting impact data; (3) building partnerships for co-production; and (4) assessing impact. The framework is derived from examples across sectors of the different art forms currently being used in ABKT, and discusses how researchers have attempted to evaluate the impact of their ABKT efforts. Ultimately, our goal is to provide a practical ABKT framework to assist researchers, but more work is needed to explore the four dimensions in practice.