In this paper, "bead collage," an arts-based research method that invites participants to reflect, communicate and construct their experience through the manipulation of beads and found objects is explained. Emphasizing the significance of one's personal biography and experiences as a researcher, I discuss how my background as an…

A case study illustrates how art therapy was used to elicit the narrative of an adolescent male student in transition from incarceration to a transfer school setting. Childhood trauma was addressed in individual sessions and within a literacy group co-led by a reading specialist. The art therapist responded to the client's needs by broadening the…

This viewpoint discusses the history of Jessica Park, a professional artist who is an adult with autism. The narrative was constructed from historical descriptive research conducted by the author using published accounts and interviews with the artist, her mother, and two childhood companions. Examples of artwork produced in elementary through…

This article attempts to hold thought open in a textual space that often forecloses thought. The authors present arguments but work them through poetry, memoir, pictures, and exposition. They frame this work in particular as an improvisation around--and intervention into--more familiar practices of collective biography, narrative, and art…

This manuscript explores the interplay of the concepts of "thisness" and singularity with art making. It explores the particularity of the individual--person, object, animal, plant, place, event; the clarity and joyousness of "thisness" or specificity; the exquisite presence of now; and the relationship of these qualities to contemplation and art…