The words art therapists use to describe their work and the definition(s) of art therapy they provide to the public are forms of communication that not only inform those outside the field of art therapy, but also shape practitioners' thoughts, practices, and professional identities. It is asked to what extent the definitions of art therapy reflect…

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…

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 viewpoint addresses ethical questions regarding the provision of art therapy as a pro bono service, a term from Latin roots that mean "for the public good." Approaches to ethical reasoning are discussed using the case of pro bono art therapy in a residential treatment program for adolescents.

This article presents a theoretical and methodological framework for interactive dialogue and analysis of dream images in existential art therapy. In this phenomenological-existential approach, the client and art therapist are regarded as equal partners with respect to sharing in the process of creation and discovery of meaning (Frankl, 1955,…

This article describes the clinical practice of two male art therapists and their work with male adolescent sex offenders in a residential treatment facility. The authors share experiences of working with clients who, in addition to being offenders, were diagnosed with a mental illness and were themselves victims of sexual abuse. The function of…

Provides theoretical, historical, and professional examination of the art as therapy approach and art psychotherapy. States that responsive art making is helpful in establishing empathic relationships with adolescents, in providing art therapists with an expressive outlet for the potent feelings that arise in the clinical context, and in forming a…