Assessment • 137single act or thought—cannot possibly be a valid sample for anyone being assessed, whether
the focus is on their potential or their problems.
Thus, both structured and unstructured assessment batteries designed by art thera-
pists usually encourage or specify multiple products. The first was proposed by Elinor
Ulman in 1965 (Ulman & Dachinger, 1975), and is now known as the Ulman Personality
Assessment Procedure (UPAP). The sequence of four chalk drawings on 18" x 24" paper
is: (1) Free Drawing, (2) Draw Movements (following directed “drawing” in the air), (3)
Rhythmic Scribble, and (4) Choice: Free or Scribble Drawing. On the DVD (6.12), you
can observe Elinor Ulman conducting a UPAP with two young adult inpatients (A) and
two adolescent outpatients (B). Her colleague, Gladys Agell, is shown conducting a UPAP
with an adult (C).
In 1988 art therapist Barry Cohen designed a three-picture tool, the Diagnostic Drawing
Series (DDS). The pictures, done on 18" x 24" white drawing paper with 12 pastels, are: (1) Free
Drawing, (2) Tree Drawing, and (3) Feeling Drawing (lines, shapes, colors). Modifications
for children have also been developed. Many art therapists have contributed data to ongo-
ing studies of the DDS, coordinated by Anne Mills. On the DVD you can see Barry Cohen
working with one patient (D) and Anne (E) with another.
Mala Betensky, an art therapist also trained in clinical psychology, designed several dif-
ferent combinations of tasks as art therapy diagnostics for different age groups, which she
described in her 1995 book with clear rationales for each: For ages 3–7: (l) Exploring Materials,
(2) Free Drawing & Painting, (3) Clay, (4) Dollhouse Play & Story, (5) Family Drawing (cray-
ons). For ages 7–10: (1) Free Media Experimentation, (2) Free Picture, (3) Scribble Drawing,
(4) Family Picture, (5a) Work with Pipe Cleaners, (5b) Free Clay Modeling, (6) H-T-P (pencil
& crayons), (7) ‘Grouping Game.’ For Pre-Adolescents, Adolescents & Adults: (l) Color-Form
Blocks, (2) Poster Paints, (3) Free Picture, (4) Free Clay Sculpture, (5) H-T-P (pencil & cray-
ons), (6) ‘Self-in-the-World’ Scribble, (7a) Adolescent Window Triptych, (7b) Family (realis-
tic), (8) Family (abstract), (9) Colored Sociogram (You & Your Friends), (10) Free Picture.
Though Betensky incorporated projective drawing tasks, her modifications are those of
an art therapist, like large paper for family drawings, or using color for a sociogram. She
also designed original tasks, like the Adolescent Window Triptych (pictures of Past, Present,
and Future).
While there is no videotaped record of Betensky administering any of these, on the DVD
(F) you can see her doing part of an assessment of an adolescent who had returned to her for
further individual art therapy. In asking Luis to identify objects using only tactile percep-
tion, it is likely that she was assessing his cognitive functioning.
Myra Levick’s doctoral work on defense mechanisms in children’s drawings (Levick,
1983) led to the development of the Levick Emotional & Cognitive Art Therapy Evaluation
& Assessment or LECATA (Levick, 2001). The six tasks, done on 12" x 18" paper with 16 oil
crayons are: (1) Free, (2) Self, (3) Scribble, (4) Developed Scribble, (5) Place, and (6) Family.
The scoring is based on cognitive stages in graphic development, as well as emotional stages
in the use of defense mechanisms. Craig Siegel, a colleague of Levick’s, is shown on the
DVD (G) working with a boy doing all of the tasks.
Art Assessments for Specific Purposes
Just as certain approaches might be especially appropriate for different age groups, so par-
ticular sets of tasks may be used for specific purposes or populations. In order to assess the
extent of stroke damage, art therapist Drew Conger (1978, AATA Conference Proceedings)
described using six tasks: (l) Build with Blocks, (2) Draw Around a Block, (3) Copy the