The most deeply felt heartbreaks are sometimes the hardest to talk about. Traumatized people who have difficulty explaining their feelings in words often work with an art therapist, who can help them express and process their emotions in a visual way.
Art therapy is a clinical profession. Art therapists are mental health care providers with master's degrees who use artwork and art analysis to discover the root causes of a client's distress and to address psychological wounds.
What Art Therapy Is and Who It Helps
Art therapy is not simply the process of engaging in a pleasurable creative endeavor and entering a state of "flow," says Meera Rastogi, professor of psychology and art therapy at the University of Cincinnati's College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. Although art-making by oneself for the sake of fun or self-discovery may feel soothing, it isn't art therapy, explains Rastogi, who has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology and a master's in art therapy.
To count as therapy, an introspective artistic activity must be guided by a trained art therapist who provides guidance along the soul-searching journey, she says. "They have a knowledge base, skills and training to work with the materials and the image in a way that goes much deeper than you would do on your own... So there's lots of great work by artists working in hospitals, by volunteers working and doing art programs, and that is not art therapy.
Images created before or during an art therapy session provide a starting point for scientifically informed conversations about subconscious thoughts, mindless behaviors and other subtle influences on a client's life that he or she may not otherwise recognize.
When art therapy clients make pictures that represent their identity, circumstances or dreams, they can – with the help of their therapist – gain clarity about their wants or needs and decide what they should do next.
Art therapists show clients how to cope with sadness and find hope in spite of adversity, and they assist people from all walks of life. "An art therapist can help many different clients, from 3 year olds to seniors, with or without mental disorders," Youhjung Son, a registered and board-certified art therapist in Maryland, wrote in an email.
People who are interested in helping others, fascinated by the human psyche and like the idea of "using creative expression as a way to heal" should consider a career in art therapy, she says. "An art therapist would need to be compassionate, understanding, patient, positive-minded, and confident in themselves as well.
Earning status as a board-certified art therapist through the Art Therapy Credentials Board, Inc. is a rigorous multistep process.
These are the key steps aspiring art therapists must take to obtain needed credentials:
- Earn a master's degree in art therapy or a master's in a related field, in which case extra education would be necessary. Supplemental coursework would also be needed with an art therapy degree from a program that is not approved by the American Art Therapy Association or accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs. A list of approved and accredited programs is available online.
- Complete 24 credits of art therapy classes and spend at least 700 hours in a supervised art therapy internship.
- Take 18 credits of studio art courses at the undergraduate or graduate level.
Art therapy master's programs usually last at least two years and may take as long as three-and-a-half years to complete. They combine art-focused classes and psychology courses.
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