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a
new moon teaches gradualness and deliberation
and how one gives birth to oneself slowly. Patience
with small details makes perfect a large work,
like the universe.
Jelaluddin Rumi |
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| What
are the Creative Arts Therapies (CATs)? |
| CATs use
the arts to facilitate healing and problem solving arising from cognitive,
emotional, physical, and spiritual needs. Professional therapists
in this field of Psychology have earned M.A. or M.S. degrees focused
on Art Therapy, or Dance/Movement Therapy, or Drama Therapy; or they
have earned B.A. degrees in Music Therapy or Poetry Therapy. There
are nationally organized professional associations which:
- Establish the educational requirements
for becoming recognized in each of these professions.
- Maintain standards and ethics
of practice
- Provide standards of professional
competence
- Promote knowledge and research
in their field of expertise
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| What
is Art Therapy? Who defines the profession?
|
Art Therapy is a new and ancient profession: it is new in the world
of Western Psychology; its roots are ancient, evolving from the world
of our indigenous ancestors who understood that they could not survive
without accessing their imaginations within sacred art-fully crafted
rituals and ceremonies. These ancestors also learned that their health
and vitality depended on their maintaining a right relationship with
all the “peoples”—animal, vegetable, mineral, the elements—in
their environment: they used the arts to acknowledge and honor these
relationships.
This “making-special” activity
(Dissanayake, 1992) through the arts is our heritage. This heritage
belongs to all of us: it belongs to all ages, to all cultures. In
our contemporary world, there is a calling for art-making to redress
the enormous sufferings of becoming separated from our connections
with each other and with our environment. says, |
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Art
as a helper in times of trouble, as a means of understanding
the conditions of human existence and of facing the frightening
aspects of those conditions, as the creation of a meaningful
order—these most welcome aids are grasped by people in
distress and used by the healers who come to their assistance.
But the blessings experienced in therapy can reach further;
they can remind artists everywhere what the function of art
has been and will always be. Rudolf
Arnheim (1967) |
For more information on Art Therapy,
please contact the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) in the
following ways: |
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- Telephone, 1-888-290-0878;
- Web site, www.arttherapy.org
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| What
kind of work does an Art Therapist do? |
|
An Art Therapist works in a variety
of settings and innovates the use of Art Therapy in response to
societal needs and changes. There are clinical mental health and
social service counseling opportunities, e.g., public and private
day and residential treatment centers, hospitals, jails, children's
programs, special education, schools, etc. There are therapeutic
teaching opportunities, e.g., working with special populations in
areas like addictions, parenting, grief and loss, spiritual emergency,
catastrophic illness, gender issues, disabilities, etc. To the extent
that an Art Therapist commits to appropriate training and on-going
skills’ building, s/he is able to develop a variety of work
options.
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| What
other educational opportunities are there in Northern California? |
| In
addition to its Art Therapy Educational Program (ATEP), CCAT provides
information for courses and workshops within the greater Northern
California region north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Some of these courses
are provided independently in Arts Therapists’ studios and retreat
centers. Information is also available for other learning opportunities
which are provided through regional academic and educational centers. |
| How
can I learn more? |
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Paint as you like and die happy. Henry Miller |
|
There
are on-going and seasonal courses provided independently in the
studios of various Arts Therapists. These courses or retreat events
offer individual and/or groups the opportunity to explore a range
of arts approaches and arts materials, and to engage in specific
personal interests as well as to participate in group processes
and seasonal celebrations.
Introductory courses
are available to introduce you to the field of the Creative Arts
Therapies through week-end, semester, or summer school learning
opportunities.
For more information, contact The
Center for Creative Arts Therapy at (707) 538-7848.
You may also wish to contact the
Office of Extended Education, at Sonoma State University, (707)664-2394,
or on line at www.sonoma.edu/exed
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| Where
can I receive accredited professional education in Northern California?
|
| |
In our geographic region, there
are currently two options for developing or enhancing your professional
skills in this field.
|
My
father carves, dancers usually….He holds the Buffalo Dancer in
the piece of cottonwood poised on the edge of his knee, and he traces—almost
caresses—the motion of the Dancer’s crook of the right elbow,
the way it is held just below the mid chest, and flicks a cut with
a razor-edged carving knife….He clears his throat a bit and sings,
and the song comes from that motion of his carving, his sitting, the
sinews in his hands and face and the song itself.
Simon Ortiz |
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