what is art therapy?

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy, in which therapists emphasize the use of visual art (and other art forms) for therapeutic intervention.

Today, the path of study for most art therapists is to gain clinical experience and become professional counselors or clinical supervisors. They learn theory and skills that combine ideas from fields of art and psychotherapy. Some art therapists have shifted their studies toward research, community art, or teaching. A few emerging perspectives are more interested in professional practices that do not involve becoming a therapist, but rather exploring ideas that link art to health, and social change. Recently, scholars in art therapy have called for a broadening or redefinition of the creative arts therapies (art therapy, drama therapy, dance movement therapy, music therapy) to clearly develop an interdisciplinary scope to include critical practices of research and education that might give way to range of new possibilities for the study of art and individual and social change.