What Is Art Therapy?
"Art Therapy is an integrative mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship."
— American Art Therapy Association
Art Therapy is a nationally recognized mental health profession that combines psychotherapy with creative expression. It utilizes both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication to address psychological, emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal concerns. Depending upon the individual and their treatment goals, it may serve as a primary therapeutic approach or complement other evidence-based services.
What Art Therapy Is—and Is Not
One of the most common misconceptions is that Art Therapy simply involves making art. While creative expression is central to the therapeutic process, Art Therapy is more than drawing, painting, coloring books, craft projects, or recreational art activities. Likewise, it should not be confused with art classes, painting parties, or wellness retreats centered around creativity.
Rather than using art for recreation or artistic instruction, Art Therapy integrates creative expression into a structured psychotherapeutic process. The artwork becomes one part of the therapeutic dialogue, supporting reflection, emotional awareness, and personal growth within the context of a professional therapeutic relationship.
Two Complementary Approaches
Contemporary Art Therapy generally incorporates two complementary approaches. Most art therapists integrate both throughout treatment, adjusting their work according to each client's needs, therapeutic goals, and stage of treatment.
Art as Therapy
This approach recognizes the creative process itself as inherently therapeutic. Clients engage with artistic materials in ways that naturally encourage emotional regulation, reflection, experimentation, and personal growth. Rather than directing the client toward a predetermined outcome, the therapist supports insight as it develops through the creative experience itself.
Frustrations, successes, unexpected discoveries, and symbolic imagery often parallel experiences occurring outside the therapy room. These moments become opportunities for reflection and meaningful psychological growth.
Art Psychotherapy
Art Psychotherapy utilizes creative expression as a pathway to explore emotions, memories, unconscious processes, and relational patterns that may be difficult to access through conversation alone. Structured art directives may be introduced to facilitate exploration of particular therapeutic themes.
Throughout the creative process, therapist and client collaboratively examine the artwork and the experiences that emerged while creating it, helping transform symbolic expression into increased self-awareness and lasting therapeutic change.
Benefits of Art Therapy
Art Therapy can benefit individuals across the lifespan, including children, adolescents, adults, older adults, veterans, members of multi-cultural and LGBTQ+ communities. It is frequently incorporated into treatment for anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, chronic stress, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, medical illness, addiction, difficulties with emotional regulation, and other presenting concerns.
Beyond symptom reduction, Art Therapy supports self-awareness, emotional resilience, confidence, problem-solving, and healthy self-expression. The creative process provides opportunities for insight and reflection while allowing clients to safely explore experiences that may otherwise feel difficult to express through words alone.
Trauma and Attachment
Art Therapy offers a particularly effective avenue for individuals with histories of trauma because it allows clients to determine how much they wish to express, both visually and verbally. The creative process provides a greater sense of personal control while allowing meaningful therapeutic work to occur at a pace that feels emotionally manageable.
Many individuals who find traditional talk therapy overwhelming discover that creative expression feels more approachable. Through repeated experiences of mastery, experimentation, and reflection, clients often develop increased confidence, improved emotional regulation, and greater capacity to communicate their internal experiences.
Professional Standards & Credentials
Art Therapists are master's-level mental health professionals who complete specialized graduate education integrating psychotherapy, psychology, human development, ethics, assessment, and the therapeutic use of art. Their education prepares them to work with individuals, families, groups, and communities across a wide variety of clinical settings.
Professional Art Therapy credentials include Provisional Registered Art Therapist (ATR-P®), Registered Art Therapist (ATR℠), and Board Certified Registered Art Therapist℠ (ATR-BC®). These credentials reflect increasing levels of supervised clinical experience and professional development, with the ATR-BC® representing successful completion of the national board certification examination administered by the Art Therapy Credentials Board.
Like other licensed mental health professionals, Art Therapists are held to rigorous ethical standards, continuing education requirements, and professional scopes of practice established by credentialing organizations and state licensing boards.
How Art Therapy Works
Art Therapy involves more than creating an image. It explores the relationships between the client, the therapist, the creative materials, and the artwork itself. Each interaction offers valuable clinical information that helps guide treatment while supporting deeper understanding, emotional awareness, and personal growth.
Art Therapists intentionally select materials based upon their therapeutic qualities and the needs of the individual. Different media invite varied forms of expression, allowing treatment to remain flexible, individualized, and responsive to each client's strengths, preferences, and goals.
Understanding Professional Qualifications
Because the regulation of Art Therapy varies across the United States, understanding professional qualifications can sometimes be challenging. Many states do not independently license the practice of Art Therapy, making differences in education, supervision, and professional credentials less apparent to those seeking care. For this reason, prospective clients are encouraged to ask providers about their graduate education in Art Therapy, supervised clinical hours, and professional credentials when seeking Art Therapy services.
Many Art Therapy graduate programs are intentionally designed to prepare students for dual licensure, particularly in states that do not recognize Art Therapy through an independent professional license. One reason is that Art Therapy services generally cannot be reimbursed through insurance unless the provider holds another qualifying mental health license. Another is that some states regulate psychotherapy in ways that require Art Therapists to obtain additional licensure despite already completing rigorous clinical education and training. These realities illustrate why many within the profession continue to advocate for independent state recognition of Art Therapy so that both clinicians and the public can more easily identify qualified providers and access legitimate Art Therapy services.
Because the profession can be widely misunderstood, fresh graduates from properly accredited Art Therapy degree programs may encounter challenges in professional recognition, employment opportunities, and compensation. Further, organizations or individuals unfamiliar with the depth of graduate education, supervised clinical training, dual credentialing requirements, and continuing education expected of many Art Therapists may underestimate the expertise involved in the professional practice of Art Therapy.
Individuals who earn the Registered Board Certified Art Therapist℠ (ATR-BC®) credential have completed specialized graduate education, extensive supervised clinical hours, and successfully passed the national certification examination administered by the Art Therapy Credentials Board. These clinicians often demonstrate a deep commitment to advancing both the practice and profession of Art Therapy. At the same time, some graduates of Art Therapy programs ultimately choose not to pursue or maintain Art Therapy credentials because obtaining and maintaining multiple professional credentials requires significant time, financial investment, and ongoing continuing education.
We hope this information has provided greater clarity about the profession of Art Therapy and the importance of seeking care from appropriately educated and credentialed Art Therapists. Increased public understanding not only helps individuals make informed decisions about their care, but also supports the continued recognition and advancement of professional Art Therapy.