238 • Introduction to Art Therapy
children experiencing temporary stress, a role pioneered by Edna Salant at the National Child
Research Center in Washington, DC (Salant in Ulman & Dachinger, 1975).
Janet Bush’s program in the Dade County (Florida) public schools has, since 1979, pro-
vided individual and group art therapy to troubled youngsters, as well as staff training for
teachers (Bush, 1997). John Allan of Vancouver did art counseling in schools with individuals
and groups, collaborating respectfully with teachers (Allan, 1988; Allan & Bertoia, 1992).
Sometimes therapeutic art activities occur in the classroom (Furrer, 1982), like those in
Something to Draw On (Ross, 1997). As more and more art therapists work in the schools, the
resources have grown and will no doubt continue to do so (Frostig & Essex, 1998; Moriya,
2000; Stepney, 2001). On the DVD you can see individual work in a school by Janet Bush (J)
and an art therapy class with Alice Karamanol (K).
Art as Therapy for Normal Adults
Art can be therapeutic for normal individuals of all ages, not just school children. Sunday
painters from Winston Churchill to Judy Collins have found making art to be immensely
helpful, especially during periods of stress—like the kind Churchill was under during World
War II.
Art classes—taught by clinically sensitive teachers or art therapists—can also be thera-
peutic, like Schaeffer-Simmern’s (1961) work with persons in business and the professions, or
that of Florence Cane, who released the creativity of many adults in her New York studios
(L). In 1972, Elinor Ulman described the therapeutic value of art classes for the normal
adults she taught at a museum in the Journal of the American Association for University
Women. Art therapist Robert Ault opened an art school after 18 years at Menninger’s. In Art
Therapy with the Unidentified Patient (Wadeson, Durkin, & Perach, 1989), Ault detailed the
therapeutic benefits of learning art for students of all ages (M).
Creative art activities can also be therapeutic for normal adults when they are used in
sensitivity, encounter, or human potential groups, as in Janie Rhyne’s (N) work at the Esalen
Institute (1995). “Growth centers,” like Omega, continue to offer many workshops using art
for self-development. The number of books offering guidance to those wanting to liberate
themselves through creating has grown as well, with art therapists as well as artists (Cameron,
2002) among the authors (Allen, 1995, 2005; Malchiodi, 2002, 2007; McNiff, 1998b).
Art therapists working in a variety of settings have sometimes used their understanding
of art and group dynamics for staἀ development. Art exercises can be helpful in looking at
both individual and interpersonal dynamics—as applicable to a staff group as to a family.
Such workshops help employees to function more effectively in the work place, since art is a
dramatic tool for clarifying interpersonal issues.
Robert Ault, who did this kind of work through the Menninger Foundation, continued it
as a business consultant after his retirement from the clinic. Another role for an art therapist
in the business world is in Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). As in other non-psychiatric
settings—like medical hospitals or schools—art is an efficient tool for the screening, which
is a major part of the job of an EAP counselor.
Concluding Thoughts
Art therapy, then, is extremely useful in both primary and secondary prevention—not only
in treating people who have ended up in psychiatric settings. As mental hospitals close (dein-
stitutionalization) and patients with chronic disorders go elsewhere—like group homes and
recreation or rehabilitation programs—art therapy is often an available source of support.