32 NATURE-BASED EXPRESSIVE ARTS THERAPY
with awareness of individual creative process as a part of the creative
process of the world.Expressive
The word expressive in expressive arts therapy is somewhat misleading.
It privileges one aspect of the creative arts, that of giving external
form to ideas, emotions and experiences of the inner world of the
individual. Expressive arts work values both expressive and receptive
forms of arts experiences. Listening to music, watching artistic
performances and observing visual arts are also potential sources of
healing. A more accurate term for the field might be integrative or
interdisciplinary arts therapy , signifying the interweaving of the arts
together, or transformative arts , signifying the possibilities for work in
the arts to generate personal and societal change. The term creative
arts therapies is normally used to refer collectively to the singular
modality-oriented arts therapies of music therapy, dance therapy,
drama therapy, poetry therapy and visual art therapy.Arts
In this book, when we speak of the arts we include all forms of creative
activity. This includes the fine arts of music, dance, drama and poetry
as well as the arts of cooking, gardening, childrearing and all of the
crafts. This meaning of the arts is a reclaiming of ancient traditions
in which all people sang and danced, beat drums, created visual
images and participated in ceremonies to celebrate and to mourn the
passages of life, to express the intangible and to remind themselves of
their relationship to the natural world and to each other.Therapy
The word therapy may suggest a somewhat narrow view of the scope
of the book. We define therapy broadly to include any and all of the
caring professions that we practice, including counseling, consulting,
psychotherapy, education and supervision. For us therapy is not