What Is Art Therapy? • 47And since the word art can refer to all creative modalities, there are even times when
“art therapy” means “arts therapies.” Similarly, there are times when creative therapy refers
not to many art forms, but to one alone. To Hauschka (1985), for example, “artistic therapy”
means “painting therapy.”
Concluding Thoughts
Despite the fact that many in the field seem to feel remarkably proprietary, art therapists do
not own art, any more than they own therapy. What they do have to offer—what is unique—
is a highly developed expertise in the use of art as a central modality in therapy. This is true
whether the art therapy is adjunctive to verbal psychotherapy, or is the primary treatment
itself. At first, art therapy was usually adjunctive, though it was sometimes used by psycho-
analytic clinicians as a major form of expression in treatment. Increasingly, art therapists
are functioning as primary therapists, probably because of the growing sophistication of
trained art therapists, as well as changes in human service delivery.
As for the many others who also use art in healing, Elinor Ulman pointed out long
ago that “Painting and sculpture are subject to such a broad range of therapeutic and
educational applications, that the boundaries between art therapy and other disciplines
are inevitably blurred.” She also observed that “patients are not ordinarily concerned
with professional distinctions, so they will occasionally turn out sculptures in occupa-
tional therapy sessions and make ashtrays in the art room.” Ulman’s parting words were
that all those “who use art in their practice must live with the task of sharing their com-
mon ground as peacefully as possible and must learn to respect each other for the spe-
cial knowledge and skills that are unique to each professional group” (Ulman, Kramer, &
Kwiatkowska, 1977).
Art + Therapy = Art Therapy
The definitions of art therapy currently offered by both the American Art Therapy Association
(AATA; http://www.arttherapy.org)) and the British Association of Art Therapists (www.baat.org)
allow for a wide range of activities, with varying degrees of emphasis on either component
of the mix. There is clearly a continuum in the use of art for therapeutic purposes, from the
intrinsically healing experience of the creative process to the diagnosis and treatment of
specific conditions. Although the debate about the definition of art therapy continues, most
practitioners would agree with Elinor Ulman that whatever is called “art therapy” needs to
be true to both art and therapy.
The history of the discipline, like the history of an individual or a family, is an excellent
way to understand how art therapy came to be what it is today. In 1980, the late psycholo-
gist Rudolf Arnheim gave the keynote address at an AATA conference. Although his own
interest was in the psychology of art (Arnheim, 1954, 1967, 1969), Arnheim had been a
supporter of the early work of pioneer Margaret Naumburg in the 1940s and the supervisor
for Shaun McNiff ’s graduate work in the 1970s. In other words, Arnheim, himself a wood
sculptor (Gypsycat Productions, 1994), had been around art therapists and art therapy from
the inception of the discipline.
His understanding of our genetics was simple: “Psychology and art may be called the
father and the mother of art therapy.” The next chapter will look more closely at the broader
question of our complicated heritage, asking “Where did art therapy come from?” and
examining the origins of art therapy and the history of the profession.