Response Art to Develop a Social Justice Stance for Art Therapists

A Bird with No Name Was Born, Then Gone: A Child’s Processing of Early Adoption through Art Therapy

“…The case study as a methodology offers a systematic form of investigation that helps therapists examine and develop clinical practice and art-based interventions [ 17 , 29 ] through observing, acting, reflecting, refining, and developing a deepened understanding of the clinical processes and where and how they are useful in practice. In art therapy, the centrality of art making and reflecting on the meaning of art during and after the sessions also offers a profound anchor for deep integrative learning post-process through the emergent themes [ 30 ]. In this case, I reread the clinical notes of all relevant clinical cases, explored the art responses, and identified five clinical themes, which I categorized according to the following titles (by order of occurrence): into the pain, from deep inside, art as nurturance, emerging, and separating.…”

“…The case study often uses first-person exposure of both client and therapist as sources of knowledge and meaning [ 29 , 30 ] while contextualizing the material that is generalizable to other clients and situations within the particular and psycho-socio-political realities of the case [ 31 , 32 ]. The use of art as a symbolic and concrete externalization of meaning is similarly both personal and relatable, and offered here to deepen readers’ understanding of the process.…”

Art Therapists as Activists in Social Movements

“…An affinity group offers those with a similar identity affiliation to establish connections. To explore racism, counteract White Supremacy, and fortify coping for those working in the U.S., art therapists have gathered in both persons of color only (Amaral & Tesfaye, 2021; Goerdt et al, 2022) and mixed-race groups (Chen et al, 2022). While working in Liberia from 2014-2016, the second author and her colleagues used art as part of the grass roots community dialogues for participants to discuss gender-based violence (GBV; Figure 5).…”