Art therapy projects are short-term art therapy events that students and board-certified art therapists actively create to encourage a wide range of community partnership, assessing the art therapy project's objectives and its end result. Many other individuals can be involved in it, such as social service for the individual and family, community centers and healthcare, educational school systems, corporations, and alternative sites.
New York's "Village Voice" printed an article, "Battling Mental Illness with a Paintbrush," on how a special art therapy project is helping the mentally ill, with Judith Raskin-Rosenthal's Gallery 300. Clients of an organization called The Bridge, Inc.", 61 of her student's works were hung on the walls. These clients belonged to a mental-health agency on West 108th Street, calling themselves the Bridge Group Artists. Disorders such as bipolar disorder, physical disability, and schizophrenia are just a few of the client's conditions which have leased a new life with their art work. Each artist had their own style, saying their own message, with the hopes of selling their work to supplement their meager incomes.
Special projects involve specific art therapy projects, with a multitude of goals involved for not only the community but also the students involved in the art therapy projects. Another such example is an Art Therapy Project in the Bellevue Hospital by Valerie Sereno, M.A., ATR-B-C, Coordinator, Special Programs and Projects. This project had several goals involved in their art show between the art students, their art therapists, and the community:
• Providing addition experience in the artistic field, in addition to diverse client contact to the art therapy students.
• Promoting community partnership and collaboration.
• Introducing art therapy benefits to specific programs and populations that are totally unfamiliar with art therapy projects.
• Educating institutions, agencies, the public, and financial supporters about the extensive applications of art therapy and art therapy projects.
• Providing creative and therapeutic opportunities for social interaction, communication, expression and emotional development.
• Establishing partnerships with new organizations generating future placements, resources and employment for students.
• Promoting the SVA Master Program in Art Therapy Projects.
Most of the art therapy projects involve themselves with the community they belong to, considering itself its strongest member who acts as a force for positive social change. Some art therapy projects for unique ideas are Community Art Programs for Children, Art for America Benefit, Bellevue Hospital: Adult Rehabilitation Unit, Long Island College Hospital: Partial-Hospitalization Psych Unit, New Alternatives for Children: Children with Chronic Illness and Disabilities, Fight Against Childhood Epilepsy and Seizures, Early Childhood Therapeutic Learning Center for Foster Care, Catholic Charities, and Residential Substance Abuse Rehabilitation for Teens.
By the time the art therapy programs have been chosen in the Art Therapy school of choice, students should have already declared this their major primary field of study, which is considered the most important decision they will ever make. According to one college, the Ursuline College Graduate pre-requisites, many prerequisite courses will have been already completed in college to qualify for upper-level courses, with a Bachelor's degree in art, psychology, behavioral science, social science, or a related field already acquired before art therapy programs can begin.
Schools that teach art therapy programs require the student to show evidence of their ability to do graduate work in the art therapy field. Not a simple field, this requires a 3.0 grade point average or above, which is based on a 4.0 system. The reason for this is because anything as a high school freshman (or 9th grade) and on up will be added to the cumulative GPA, which will effect the outcome of the schools seeking admittance to, and the scholarships being applied for. When applying to a school which teaches art therapy programs, this will have great impact on whether or not the student will be accepted.
Art therapy programs have quite a few prerequisites, which make art therapy classes easier to understand and to apply to one's ability to learn. One such group of prerequisites to art therapy programs is a completed minimum of 18 semester hours in studio art--drawing, painting, clay or sculpture. Another is a minimum of 12 semester hours in Psychology, a prerequisite that involves four areas: General Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Personality or Counseling Development, and Abnormal Psychology or Psychopathology. And last but not least is some experience in a human service context field working with people on some level.
U.S. News has a partial list of 26 Art Therapy Schools which have quality art therapy programs under a national listing of the top "America's Best Colleges 2008" list. When choosing the college major for a future in art therapy, working with people of all types, ages, and backgrounds will be part of the job description. Working in art therapy uses visual artistic expression by the client to allow them to safely express hidden emotions and to explore their personal problems. The end result can enable them to achieve positive change in their lives, combined with personal growth. The major difference in art therapy, as compared to traditional psychological therapies, is that it consists of a three-way process. This process is combination of efforts between the client, therapist, and the artwork itself.
Art therapy programs have professionals to train the prospective art therapist to work in many different ways. Some of these ways are to work with other professionals as a team; assess the individual needs of the client; listen to them and provide guidance; work creatively with them in a therapeutic setting; enable the client themselves to explore their own creativity, their art work, and its process; and most important, maintain the latest research and new ideas regarding the latest developments of art therapy.
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