What Is Art Therapy? • 35all of which are valid and useful. What is important is to be clear about the differences
among the different art providers groups in preparation, experience, and competency.
In other words, someone helping hospitalized patients to paint might be a nurse, a volun-
teer, an artist, a teacher, or an art therapist. The difference among them is found primarily
in the goals of the activity that are intimately related to the provider’s background. A vol-
unteer, even one with no art background, can be taught to offer a pleasurable and diverting
painting activity. The volunteer’s primary goal might be to increase the quality of life for a
nursing home resident, and if the patient has a pleasant painting experience, that is certainly
a wonderful distraction.
A teacher or artist-in-residence is able to provide instruction (Rollins & Mahan, 1996;
Darley & Heath, 2008). Their goal might be to increase the student’s self-esteem, which will
be enhanced through mastery of the skills necessary to paint effectively. These are all worth-
while goals and, indeed, are what happens when anyone offers art materials successfully in
a medical setting.
The art therapist, while also providing creative experiences that promote joy, mastery,
and self-esteem, has other skills that are a substantial part of her training, especially in her
supervised clinical work. Perhaps most critically, art therapists have considerable experi-
ence in the difficult task of reaching profoundly disabled individuals in both educational
and medical settings. They therefore tend to be more effective in helping people with
Alzheimer’s disease, for example, to initiate and develop creative activity (Abraham, 2004;
Magniant, 2004; Waller, 2002; Weiss, 1984).
Moreover, an art therapist can use art activities to assess, to treat, and to remediate those
psychological problems that interfere with adaptive functioning, which might include being
able to use art media or to attend a painting class offered by an artist. Because they are
trained in psychology and psychotherapy as well as in art, and are educated in creative ways
of understanding and helping others, art therapists can provide a specific kind of service in
medical settings that is qualitatively different from others who offer art. This can be seen on
the DVD, where an art therapist works with a person who has AIDS (B) (Malchiodi, 1999a,
1999b; Waller, 2002).
Room for All: Teamwork (DVD 2.5)
I have no question that participating in art activities can be therapeutic in the broad
sense of being “helpful,” regardless of the background of the provider. Just as there is
room for more than one approach in providing art to individuals with disabilities or to
people with mental and physical illnesses, so in work with hard-to-reach individuals,
a team of arts professionals is often ideal. I say this because pragmatically, there will
never be enough trained art therapists to serve the many people who could benefit from
the healing power of art. I believe that the most inclusive stance is best not only for
those in need, but also for arts professionals who learn and grow when they work col-
laboratively, spreading the benefits of art expression even more widely. Some instances
may clarify.
In 1973, I coordinated a creative arts program for poor children, who are at increased
risk for social and emotional maladjustment. The program was funded by Pittsburgh Model
Cities (part of a national War on Poverty), and was administered through my employer, the
Pittsburgh Child Guidance Center.
Since I was not restricted to hiring people from any specific discipline, I chose individu-
als with the personal and professional qualities that seemed most critical. The result was