The difference between Art Therapy and Art in therapy.
How is Art Therapy different than Art in therapy?
The difference lies in the training, intention, and therapeutic approach.
Art therapy is facilitated by a trained art therapist who integrates both psychotherapy and the therapeutic use of art within their work. While art can certainly be used within counselling or psychotherapy, this is different from art therapy as a specialized and professionally trained therapeutic approach.
While art can absolutely be used within traditional psychotherapy, that does not automatically make it art therapy. Art therapy is a distinct discipline that requires specialized education, clinical training, ethical understanding, and knowledge of both psychotherapy and the therapeutic use of creative processes.
Art therapy is a unique therapeutic modality that combines psychotherapy and art-making. Within a safe environment and supportive therapeutic relationship, art therapy allows challenging thoughts, emotions, and experiences to be explored, expressed, and processed creatively.
Unlike conventional talk therapy, which is largely verbal and relies on language, logic, and reasoning, art therapy also engages imagination, intuition, sensory experience, and feeling. Through the creative process, experiences that may be difficult to put into words can often be explored in a different and deeply meaningful way.
In terms of human development, children are often not as language or logic-oriented as adults. Instead, they move naturally through the world of images, imagination, creativity, and play. Art therapy can therefore be a very natural and developmentally supportive way of working with children. That being said, art therapy can be an incredibly valuable and transformative therapeutic modality for individuals of all ages.
Art therapy addresses a fundamental human need for creativity and self-expression, contributing to healing, wholeness, and well-being. The process of creating art and voicing one’s story through that process can be empowering, transformative, healing, and even joyful.
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