We are very excited to present to you AATA’s first Annual Impact Report. Thanks to our members’ amazing artwork and thoughtful commentary, this report tells the story of our year as an organization and a profession. AATA has worked hard to continue our work as the leading voice for art therapists and promoting mental health for everyone. From offering virtual learning and networking, building awareness by educating the public about our profession, and advocating for wider recognition, we are proud to support our members. 

This year, we were able to offer more scholarships to art therapy students and new professionals than ever before, thanks to the generous support of so many sponsors and individual donors! As the year comes to a close, we hope you’ll consider donating to our scholarship funds to support the next generation of art therapists.

I was born and raised in Mexico, in a very loving (I would even dare say enmeshed) typical Catholic Latino family. My grandfather had died close to Christmas, so my father always tried his best to erase that feeling of loss and live the ideals of what he called “the American Christmas.” My dad swears the United States has the best holiday season in the world: the music, the lights, the chimney, the snow… and I have to admit I agree. It is built to make you feel all the warm, fuzzy feelings that the holidays are supposed to be. Families together, sharing a “cup of cheer” while the “merry bells are ringing.” As even Burl Ives says, “It’s the best time of the year.” But is it really?

This is your last chance to earn 25 units of continuing education before 2020 comes to a close. The AATA’s brand-new virtual conference, Resilience, Learning & Growth will be held this Saturday, Dec. 19. This conference will provide exceptional education and networking opportunities that will offer attendees flexibility and a library of 25 hours of on-demand learning! 

Working with individuals who have been diagnosed with PTSD, I came to understand myself, and my family of origin at a deeper level. My father was a soldier in the 10th Mountain Ski Troops that fought their way through Italy in WWII. I was born shortly after he returned home from the war. Although he never talked about the war, he was very affected by that experience and the atrocities that he witnessed. I believe that my work with clients who have lived through traumatic situations helped me to better understand my parents as human beings and, in turn, be a better, more patient therapist with my clients. 

It’s been a year like no other. As we count down to the beginning of 2021, I just wanted to take the time to express my gratitude for this community, for our chapters, and for all the members who joined together in AATA to support each other during the challenging times of the past year.

Cliff Joseph, an artist raised in Harlem who in the 1960s and '70s led protests against major New York museums to advocate for the inclusion of Black artists, and who later pioneered the practice of multiculturalism in the field of art therapy, died on Nov. 8 in a hospital in Chicago. He was 98.

When COVID-19 forced the world to physically distance, Associate Professor Lisa Kay, program head of art therapy at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, was worried that students would miss out on interning in the field, a crucial part of the program experience. 

Marcus Jansen calls painting as an intimate act of war — he's quite familiar with both. After nine months of service in the Middle East and another year in the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea, Jansen was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. His treatment in 1994 included art therapy.

In a world of remote learning and social distancing, children have lost opportunities to develop important interpersonal skills. The lack of socializing this year means kids have been getting less practice with problem-solving, communication and other types of social-emotional learning. “From an early age, we teach children to share, be polite, be a good sport,” Robin Goodman, a clinical psychologist and art therapist who works with children, told HuffPost. “These are great building blocks for good communication and getting along with other people.”

VIDEO: “What is important about art therapy is that you go within and start trusting again,” fashion designer Rachel-Diane Epoupa told CityNews. Epoupa has worked with domestic violence survivors at Auberge Transition, a shelter in Montreal, to create a fashion collection with the goal of helping women rebuild their self-esteem and supporting them financially. 

When COVID-19 began making its way through Philadelphia in spring, residents looking for hope decorated their windows with rainbows for children to play eye-spy from house to house. Robert Blackson is the director of exhibitions and public programs at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture and wanted to find a way for the activity to continue. 

Jen Mulzer, a student in Butler University’s MFA in Creative Writing program, wants her son and other children who experience ADHD or similar conditions to know there is nothing wrong with how they process information or move in the world. That’s the key message of Music in My Head, a new children’s book written by Mulzer and illustrated by Abey Akinseye, a Butler junior majoring in Psychology and Sociology with a minor in Art.