This study investigated the effect of mandala coloring on the attention level of children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Iran. This research was a quasi-experimental pre-post study (N = 38) with a control group. The results showed that mandala coloring statistically increased the attention level of children with ADHD both…

This study adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate the perceptions of immigrant children who participated in a puppet-making workshop about the story of an immigrant puppet, called Amal. The study involved 11 participants, 5 girls and 6 boys aged between 9 and 12 years, who joined the "Children Like Us" puppet-making…

There is little research on the transformational processes of creative arts therapies (CATs) students during training compared to other healthcare professions. CATs training relies on arts-based experiential learning that can develop the therapist's creative self-beliefs, psychological mindedness, and perspective-taking. This single group pre-post…

Christine Wang was a pioneering art therapist in Washington DC and Baltimore in the 1960s through the 1980s and the first Chinese-American art therapist in the United States. This biographical inquiry re-presents her role through interviews, historical documents, and publications. She made notable contributions to art therapy practice, research,…

People with intellectual disability (ID) generally tend to have difficulties expressing their thoughts and feelings verbally. Art-based therapies rely less on cognitive ability and verbal skills and aim to promote mental health. Drama therapy provides a playful framework to communicate problematic issues and to foster social skills.…

Climate change is a well-documented challenge for human societies where human actions have spurred global warming leading to climate breakdown. Ecological disasters are already affecting the mental health of many people, and this is escalating. By painting elephants, I address "ambiguous" loss and demonstrate the power of art therapy to…

Cancer is an overwhelming and life-altering diagnosis. Receiving this type of diagnosis typically requires traditional medical therapeutics, but relaxation and healing techniques that reduce stress and calm fears are also beneficial. Artmaking and visual journaling are healing techniques used to improve emotional and psychological health among…

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…

This article presents qualitative research that further defines community art therapy and provides practice approaches of art therapy practitioners who work in community contexts. The researcher collected data through interviews with 32 art therapy practitioners working in community programs in 36 countries. Interviews were transcribed, coded, and…

The Person-in-the-Rain (PITR) drawing scoring system primarily assesses stress, excluding consideration of color usage. In contrast, the Formal Elements Art Therapy Scale (FEATS) effectively evaluates psychopathological disorders and provides a comprehensive assessment of color usage. This study aimed to: (1) develop an alternative scoring system…

Repetition compulsion is a psychodynamic concept that explains an attempt to master trauma. This case study attempts to understand the possible meanings of symbol repetition that occurred in the art therapy process of a twelve-year-old boy with acute methylmalonic acidemia. Over 29 sessions of art therapy, the client demonstrated repetition…

This case study integrated feminist theory and social action approaches through the use of a storycloth (fiber arts-based intervention). The feminist approach of being transparent and egalitarian focused on addressing social, cultural, and political issues that are not always covered in the therapeutic setting but may be an underlying cause of…

Art materials created by and used within cultures with implicit racial bias can exemplify and perpetuate that bias. An art material named for skin color perpetuates the normalization and prioritization of one skin color. This viewpoint details how one White art therapist educator dealt with a sand-colored paint labeled "flesh," which…

This mixed methods study assessed the emotional impact of therapeutic art techniques in reducing subjective anxiety by comparing three options for drawing a self-portrait: literal self-portrait, mandala, and free drawing. Undergraduate college students (n = 60) were provided with a mood induction procedure and then randomly assigned to a drawing…

Recently there has been an expansion of the literature on creative arts therapy (CAT) interventions in the United States (U.S.) school system. However, findings across studies in the field have yet to be systematically investigated on a national level. The present review is an integrative systematic review of empirically evaluated CAT intervention…