We are thrilled to announce the art therapy master’s program at Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) – Art Design Technology University (ADT) in Pune, India! The MFA in Art Therapy is now offered though the School of Fine Arts & Applied Arts (SOFA). The first batch of students will be enrolled in 2021 and will graduate in 2023. MIT-ADT is hosting a virtual launch party on June 27 at 6:30 p.m. IST. We invite you to join us to learn more about this critical milestone in the development of the art therapy profession in India! We are excited to tell our story that led to this achievement and to share our hopes for the future.

In response to an international call for art therapists to provide culturally responsive and relevant services, Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, the International Journal of Art Therapy, and the Canadian Journal of Art Therapy will simultaneously publish special issues on intersectionality, re-indigenization and anti-colonialism, and cultural humility. Watch the video about the collaboration and call for papers!

New authors, particularly from regions that are underrepresented in art therapy literature, are encouraged to submit! Submissions open on March 1, 2022 and close on March 31, 2022, with an expected publication date of spring 2023. Find all the details about the special issues here.  

In my work I’ve tried to create a space where all feel welcome to come as they are. I encourage every client that I come in contact with to discover their voice and use it in a way that feels safe for them. My own artwork gives me a place to honor and celebrate my own culture, heritage and intersectionality. It was especially important for me when I didn’t feel safe enough to express all the parts of my intersectionality with my voice. My art is limitless.

VIDEO: "The Acadia Family Center received an $8,600 grant to create a mobile art therapy studio... Visiting artists from the region will partner with Acadia Family Center to bring the mobile studio and art therapy help to those in need. 'It’s a great way to touch and reach out to people in our community, especially those who are unable to come to our center, or can’t afford some services,' said Acadia Family Center Art Therapist Hilary Chermak."

"A local program is helping the homeless re-create the current canvas in their lives." In[Rich] studios, founded in 2019 by artist and current art therapy student Jansen Howard, offers materials, art storage, and a safe space for people whio want to express themselves.

"Theresa Gougeon was angry, furious even. In the past 18 months, she’d dealt with an antibiotic-resistant superbug (twice) and treatment for ovarian cancer — plus the suffocating fear that involves leaving your house when you’re immunocompromised during a pandemic. She was exhausted from being in 'fight-flight-freeze mode,' she told Sandra Drabant, an art therapist at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. 'Think about a color that would fit with that feeling,' said Drabant from Gourgeon’s computer screen. 'Think about some marks. Think about some lines. Take a few minutes and just express that.'"

"The Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation said last Thursday that preliminary findings from a survey of the grounds at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School with ground-penetrating radar indicated the remains of 215 children were on site...Megan Kanerahtenhá:wi Whyte is from Kahnawake, Que., and is an art therapist and local artist who primarily works with Indigenous youth. 'Sometimes, taking a talking approach can be difficult, especially if there's trauma,' said Whyte. She said art is important because it helps people process emotions, take action and grieve."

"Whether we're putting hands in dirt or nurturing a seedling to a flower, fruit or vegetable, maintaining a garden engages the body, mind and senses, so it can act as a self-soothing technique. Lynne Linkowski, a certified art therapist and a mental health specialist for Bellevue Independent Schools in Bellevue, Kentucky, says, 'Gardening also lends a metaphor that is so helpful in the therapeutic relationship because it allows the individual to safely explore their own thoughts or feelings, but at a distance from their reality.'"