250 • Introduction to Art Therapy
Over time, the criteria for registration have been modified, due to the increased availabil-
ity of formal education, and the decision that the master’s degree be the entry level for the
profession. Registration, originally handled by the Standards Committee of AATA, is now
administered by a separate entity, the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB). A combina-
tion of master’s-level education and 1000 to 1500 hours of postmaster’s supervised clinical
experience is currently required to become an ATR (www.atcb.org).
Standards for Board Certification
In 1994, also after much debate, a written Certification Examination was developed,
designed to identify a higher level of proficiency than the entry level of registration. Passing
this exam entitles the art therapist to identify herself as Board Certified (ATR-BC). In order
to maintain board certification, each individual is required to accumulate 100 Continuing
Education Credits (CECs) every five years.
Credentialing mechanisms in all human service professions exist primarily to protect the
public from incompetent practitioners. Like licensure, which is now available to art thera-
pists in many states because of successful lobbying efforts, registration and certification are
ways of identifying qualified clinicians.
Standards for Educational Programs
A quandary similar to the one about registration standards faced early AATA boards as
they tried to establish criteria for educational programs. Wishing to preserve the range of
orientations in art therapy, and wanting program standards to be at least as flexible as those
for registration, AATA published Guidelines for Academic, Institute & Clinical Art Therapy
Training, now called Education Standards (www.arttherapy.org).
The document is clear about the fundamental courses and clinical work essential to
learning art therapy, but allows for a variety of interpretations on the part of specific train-
ing programs. There are specific requirements for postmaster’s degree programs (for clini-
cians from other fields) and a list of both undergraduate and graduate training programs
can be found on the AATA website (www.arttherapy.org).
The Educational Program Approval Board (EPAB), developed in 1978, was originally
called the Education & Training Board (ETB). Its task is to assess the quality of educa-
tional programs, to designate those qualifying for approval, and to periodically review
approved programs. As of March 2009, 33 of the programs on the list had met the criteria
for approval.
Students graduating from an approved program are required to have 1000 postgraduate
hours of supervised clinical work in order to be eligible for registration. Those graduating
from programs that have not been approved are required to accumulate 1500 hours of super-
vised work. Currently, programs meet annually before the conference in the Coalition of Art
Therapy Educators (CATE), a tradition that was initiated in 1978 by Sandra Kagin Graves.
Evolution of Continuing Education
Learning Through Further Education
Even before Continuing Education Credits were required to maintain board certification
(1994), there had been a growing interest among practitioners in expanding their skills and
knowledge. Since 1982, pre and post conference mini-courses have been offered by AATA,
with CECs available. Since 1988, regional symposia have been organized by AATA, and are
available at no charge to the sponsoring local chapter.