38 • Introduction to Art Therapy
there is considerable overlap. I suspect that the purchasers of Child Art Therapy, a book that
first appeared in 1978 and has recently been revised (Rubin, 2005b) include child therapists
with a fondness for using art and other creative modalities. I also imagine that those who
help children via play therapy are among the users of a creative drawing book distributed
by the American Psychological Association, designed for children whose parents are sepa-
rated and divorced; it is called My Mom and Dad Don’t Live Together Anymore (Rubin,
20 02) (B).
Pediatric Art Therapy and Child Life Programs
There is also some overlap and interaction between art therapy with young people and pedi-
atric art therapy, as well as a field that is almost as young as art therapy—child life. In the
past, most play programs in hospitals for children were staffed by volunteers. In 1964, a
child development student running one at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh asked if I would
teach the volunteers how to use art in their evening activities. In 1971, an art therapy intern
traveled the wards, offering art materials and support to children before and after surgery,
as well as during long hospitalizations (C). And a Hospital Drawing Book (Rubin, 2009) was
such a success that we were able to retrieve only one finished copy since the children wanted
to take them home when they left the hospital.
Perhaps because of these earlier efforts, the director of the first child life program at that
hospital requested in-service training in art therapy for her staff. And in October 2008,
another workshop was held for the much larger staff of child life specialists and assistants,
who then used art with the pediatric patients under supervision. A follow-up session was
held in December 2008.
The Child Life Council (CLC), founded in 1982, grew out of earlier efforts to help hos-
pitalized children to cope (www.childlife.org). It is a multidisciplinary organization that
promotes the psychosocial well-being of children and families in health-care settings. Child
life specialists are eligible to take a certification exam at the bachelor’s level after 10 college
courses that may be in any combination of relevant areas (psychology, therapeutic recre-
ation, etc). Like many developing professions, including art therapy in its early organiza-
tional years, it has not yet solidified an identity.
Since the vast majority of those certified in this field have not had specialized supervised
training, their preparation is not comparable to that of medical art therapists who work in
hospital settings (Malchiodi, 1999a). Like play therapists, they are likely to offer a wide vari-
ety of materials and toys, especially those used in and related to hospital procedures. While
art may be among the activities they offer, it is not primary.
Because of the obvious overlap, many art therapists have been directly involved in this
area and will no doubt continue to be (Figure 2.10). Diane Rode, credentialed as both an
art therapist (ATR-BC) and a child life specialist (CCLS), directs the Child Life Program
at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, where she supervises a large multidisciplinary staff. At
Dartmouth Medical Center pediatric residents have learned to offer art activities to children
in the hospital (D).
Art Therapy and Art Counseling
Another overlapping area of work is occasionally referred to as art counseling. Counseling
was formerly used primarily to refer to guidance, especially in educational and rehabilita-
tion settings. More recently the term is less often a synonym for advice and more often for
psychotherapy. Counselors, who may have a general clinical background or may be trained
in pastoral or rehabilitation counseling, tend to be employed in education or rehabilitation