Professional Issues • 249He had been asked: “If someone shook you awake at 3:00 in the morning and asked ‘Are you
an artist or a therapist?’ how would you answer?” Bob then said that he had found himself
deciding in favor of “artist,” but that he also resented having to make a choice.
Mildred Lachman-Chapin (1994), who often addressed the question, was instrumental
in the formation of an Art Committee within AATA. Art therapy students whose training
programs are in art schools, however, are sometimes seen as “second-class artists.” And in
treatment settings, because of their low position in the hierarchy, art therapists often feel
like “second-class therapists.” In fact, one prominent drama therapist identified a “shame
dynamic” in the expressive arts therapies (Johnson, 1999).
Evolution of Standards
It may come as a surprise that the desirability of a national art therapy association in
America was hotly debated before it was formed, and that the debates were due primarily
to concerns about excellence. The pioneers whose writings had defined the profession in the
United States were scholarly individuals with high standards. They feared that their devo-
tion to quality might be weakened, and the worth of their creation cheapened. Forming
an organization in 1969 necessarily included people with widely varying educational and
experiential backgrounds, and equally varied ideas about qualifications.
Art therapy has, however, benefited greatly from AATA’s birth. Only a national profes-
sional association could define and enforce standards for individuals, for training pro-
grams, and for practice. As a result, art therapy has come of age as a responsible profession,
well respected by other disciplines and by the public. That would not have happened with-
out defining excellence in all these areas, as well as creating mechanisms for certifying its
presence. Current requirements for credentials and for training programs are found on the
AATA website (www.arttherapy.org). A bit of history is included because I have discovered
in recent travels that some of the steps we took along the way provide useful models for
other countries where art therapy is beginning to organize.
Standards for Registration
There were heated disputes at the first meeting of AATA about the desirability of any
codified standards. Pioneer art therapists, all of whom had creatively defined their own
work, feared that specific requirements for practitioners might choke the growth of the
new field. In a very close vote, the decision was made to define some people as “registered,”
in order to differentiate those who were qualified from those who were not. Registered
Art Therapist was and still is designated by the letters ATR. As is usual when a profes-
sion establishes a credential, a grandfather clause was adopted for those with five years of
experience.
One of the first and most difficult tasks, after agreeing to credentialing, was to define
standards, since it was quite a challenge to assess competence in a discipline with hardly any
formal training, and widely different kinds of preparation among practitioners.
The solution to the problem of setting fair and flexible standards was solved by Sandra
Kagin Graves, who came up with the notion of Professional Quality Credits (PQCs). In this
system, points could be earned for a variety of preparatory learning experiences, including
apprenticeships, courses, and publications. A minimum of 1000 hours of supervised work
was the only non-negotiable requirement. Each applicant had to demonstrate that her expe-
riences qualified her for a total of 12 PQCs, which would enable her to be a Registered Art
Therapist (ATR).