In 2015, programmatic accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) was initiated for art therapy education. The study examined art therapy faculty's perception of the CAAHEP accreditation process through a nation-wide online survey research. The mixed-method analysis supports the complexity of the…

Undergraduate art therapy education programs in the United States have endeavored to prepare students for graduate level art therapy training and entry level positions in art facilitation since the mid-1970s with minimal published guidelines or established professional standards. The authors reviewed the art therapy literature regarding current…

Training art therapists requires fair grading systems that equitably assess learning styles and developmental levels of academic aptitude, particularly with longer term art assignments. As students progress in their studies, a contemplative education framework offers a self-directed learning environment that strives to share grading…

Undergraduate art therapy programs outnumber graduate programs in the United States, yet they lack a parallel set of educational standards. An online survey collected data from 38 out of 54 undergraduate art therapy programs. Similarities among programs included: curricular requirements, credential-holder provided advising and fieldwork…

The Wisconsin Art Therapy Association (WATA), formally established in 1969, was the first incorporated organization of art therapists in the United States. Under the leadership of Wayne Ramirez, WATA lobbied the national association for an inclusive definition of art therapy that aimed to foster respect for psychiatric, educational, and community…

This viewpoint examines the limitations of cultural competency in art therapy education through personal reflection, calling for an immersive engagement with social justice practices of naming difference, asserting counter narratives, and following the leadership of people impacted by systemic violence. The author discusses the impact of…

This article presents an innovation in art therapy research and education in which art-based performance is used to generate, embody, and creatively synthesize knowledge. An art therapy graduate student's art-based process of inquiry serves to demonstrate how art and performance may be used to identify the research question, to conduct a process…

There is a clear need for greater diversity in the field of art therapy, with a particular need to increase the representation of racial and ethnic minorities in educational programs. In a sample of 16 art therapy program directors, strategies and barriers to recruitment were identified through an anonymous online survey. The results of the survey…

Simulation is used widely in medical and health professions educational programs. Standardized patients (SPs) are individuals who are trained to simulate specific symptoms or conditions as part of a structured learning experience with students. In this qualitative, phenomenological study the researcher interviewed 8 first-year graduate art therapy…

Multicultural competence is essential to contemporary art therapy practice. Current education standards require that culturally sound theories and practices be taught along with self-awareness, but there is little research on the effects of such training in art therapy. The current study examined data from the Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge,…

This article describes a study of art therapy and music education students at a Midwestern university in the United States, who participated in single-semester service-learning assignments prior to their clinical internship or student teaching experience. Undergraduate music teacher-candidates taught music to homeschool students; art therapy…

This viewpoint asserts that art therapy education is a form of performance art. By designing class sessions as performance artworks, art therapy educators can help their students become more fully immersed in their studies. This view also can be extended to conceptualizing each semester--and the entire art therapy curriculum--as a complex and…

This article describes a qualitative study of the development of professional identity in art therapists who also prepare as counselors. Graduates from one university's two distinct master's degree programs were interviewed: (a) art therapy (n = 9) and (b) art therapy combined with counseling (n = 11). Most participants regardless of their degree…

Clinical field training is an essential component of educating future therapists. This article discusses a creative arts therapies field training model in Israel as designed and modified from 3 years of program evaluation in a changing regulatory context. A clinical seminar structure puts beginning students in the role of participant-observer in…

How does arts activism relate to concepts of voice, issues of social justice, and ideas about sustainable change and transformative processes? Does arts activism imply a particular set of values? This article describes an arts activism course that is designed to raise critical discourse on these and other questions and to provide a structure for…