Multicultural competence is essential to contemporary art therapy practice. Current education standards require that culturally sound theories and practices be taught along with self-awareness, but there is little research on the effects of such training in art therapy. The current study examined data from the Multicultural Awareness, Knowledge,…

Evidence that posttraumatic growth is a potential outcome in the process of recovery from trauma and natural disaster highlights the importance of social environmental factors that encourage a growth response in survivors. This art-based research project followed up on a group of youth survivors (N = 11) of the 2007 earthquake in the Ica region of…

Art making has been documented as an effective stress reduction technique. In this between-subjects experimental study, possible mechanisms of stress reduction were examined in a sample of 52 university students randomly assigned to one of four conditions generated by factorially crossing Activity Type (artistic or nonartistic) with Coping…

This article presents findings from a study of the therapeutic effects of group art therapy in a psychotherapy unit of a Russian hospital for war veterans. The researchers randomly assigned 112 veterans being treated for stress-related disorders to an experimental group (art therapy) and a control group. The emphasis was on the use of humor in the…

This study examined social perceptions among 191 Arab and Jewish children who live in mixed neighborhoods in Israel. Human Figure Drawing assessment was used to examine the children's social perceptions. The drawings that the Jewish Israeli children created portrayed Arabs as the enemy, whereas the Arab Israeli children expressed a more positive…

This article discusses the theoretical and social contexts of a community art project that took place at a public housing estate located in Melbourne, Australia. The art intervention was aimed at increasing the residents' health and well-being through the empowerment of their own cultural creations. Three sculptures in the form of giant babushka…

Assessment is the foundation for conceptualizing effective interventions. Due to their nonverbal nature, art therapy assessments have an advantage over traditional verbal assessments in some populations and potentially across cultures. This pilot study provides preliminary reliability data to support the cross-cultural use of the Formal Elements…

Clinical field training is an essential component of educating future therapists. This article discusses a creative arts therapies field training model in Israel as designed and modified from 3 years of program evaluation in a changing regulatory context. A clinical seminar structure puts beginning students in the role of participant-observer in…

This article examines the phenomenon of the art therapy profession's recent migration to one country and the resulting acculturation process for the sojourner practitioner, the country of origin, and the profession itself. For their training, art therapists in Colombia must migrate to study at established international programs, bringing back…

The introduction of written informed consent in the 1970s created expectations of shared decision making between doctors and patients that has led to decisional conflict for some patients. This study utilized a collaborative, intrinsic case study approach to the decision-making process of oncology patients who participated in an open art therapy…

Visual experience and meaning making in art therapy constitute more than looking at the image created. Clients and therapists utilize the environment of therapy in ways that have been hitherto unrecognized. This article presents a key finding from an art-based study of the experience of the art therapy room from the perspectives of client and…

This article explores the dynamics of orphaned children's engagement with art therapy in a group of preadolescent children living in a Russian orphanage. The phenomenon of repetition compulsion (i.e., origins in past traumatic experiences, destructive consequences, and protective psychic function) is discussed with respect to the children's…

An estimated 30,000 drawings remain of the concentration camp artworks generated over the course of the Holocaust. Fabricated in a reality conceived to eradicate not just life but the very will to live, concentration camp art raises the question of the persistence of creativity in traumatic situations. This article explores the witness function of…

This article describes a 9-month community action project that took the form of an art studio located in a thrift store. The purpose of the project was to creatively reduce clothing fabric waste from unused donations, and also to document the social justice and ecological issues involved in clothing production and distribution. Collaboration with…

When people come together in community to practice critical inquiry, they develop a capacity to see, reflect, and become subjects of their own development. This article describes arts-based participatory action research in partnership with a nongovernmental organization in Central America. Creative art therapy was culturally adapted and practiced…