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Art Therapy: Curriculum

Students create their own art as an integral part of the curriculum. By using the art process students enhance their understanding of and empathy for the individuals for whom they provide art therapy services at their clinical placements

The Art Therapy curriculum is a synthesis of multiple dynamic and interactive educational components. The curriculum content and teaching methods in this program form a rich texture of integrated and interdisciplinary learning. These interactive educational components include theory, practice/clinical, artistic experientials, intersubjective experience,  clinical supervision, and research.

Plan of Study
To Review and Download the Art Therapy Plan of Study, please click here.

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Coursework

The basis for the curriculum is the integration of foundational core courses with discipline specific art therapy courses. The core curriculum focuses on human development, psychopathology, group dynamics, principles and models of psychotherapy,ethics, clinical articulation and appraisal skills, and case presentations. In addition to the content areas listed above, the core courses may include the study of literature, the arts and creativity as they relate to personality development, psychodynamics, and psychotherapy. The study of these interacting bodies of collective knowledge and inter subjective processes helps the arts therapy student appreciate the multiple interactive artistic, subjective, inter subjective and emotional processes that are in constant motion within the creative arts therapy treatment session. The specialty courses focus on art therapy theory, technique, case review, and personal development as an art therapist. To these ends the art therapy courses use multiple interactive pedagogies which include the integration of intellectual, artistic and emotional experiential learning. Dynamic and multi-dimensional learning, which may include experiences such as art making within the inter subjective matrix, helps students develop sensitivity to the therapeutic relationship, the nature of emergent unconscious material within the interpersonal and artistic matrix, and the role of the art and the therapist in art therapy. The emphasis upon these complex emergent creative and intersubjective processes contributes to the development of expertise of the student in the areas of art therapy assessment and treatment. By integrating the core and specialty course material, students learn to communicate with other professionals while maintaining their unique identity as art therapists.


Clinical Practica and Internships

The students learn how to apply the theory of art therapy in various treatment situations. Working with specified treatment objectives, students learn to combine art therapy theory and practice with psychodynamic and psychotherapeutic technique. They can work with individuals groups or families using the theoretical and clinical education they have received. This integrated approach provides a comprehensive foundation of sound clinical work in different treatment settings and with different clinical populations.

The Art Therapy program offers 1200 clinical art therapy educational hours. The number of clinical practicum and internship hours offered by the program meets the educational standards of the American Art Therapy Association and exceed the hours required in most art therapy graduate programs. Students begin their clinical experience as soon as they enter the program. The clinical education parallels the classroom education and is enhanced by 3 to 3.5 hours of individual and group supervision per week. As part of the clinical and supervisory experience, students receive a visual/verbal log in which to record their clinical experiences in words and artwork. They use these logs in their supervision in order to better articulate and understand the complex dimensions of the art therapy process.

First-year students have three clinical practicum experiences, one in each quarter. The first quarter clinical practicum is accompanied by an intensive course on Professional Orientation and Ethics I. The first practicum experience is one in which the art of clinical art therapy observation is taught through practical experience, role modeling, and art therapy supervision. The second practicum emphasizes a gradual increase in active participation in art therapy sessions while integrating their learned observational skills. This occurs with the guidance of the on-site art therapy supervisor. The degree of involvement in the art therapy process increases concomitant to the student’s skill development which is discussed in various clinical supervision venues, and evaluated through the clinical evaluation process. The third quarter is a continuation of practicing art therapy under the guidance of an art therapist wherein observation skills and art therapy skills begin to mature. In order to provide a range of clinical art therapy experience the student spends the first two quarters at one clinical site and the third quarter at a different clinical site. Consequently, the student experiences two different treatment settings, two different human service provider systems with different organizational dynamics, and two different clinical populations. One practicum is with children or adolescents, and one is with adults or geriatrics. These clinical practica are assigned by the Clinical Coordinator, and require that an art therapist be on site with the student during the first year. The on-site art therapist serves as a role model for the first-year student to observe.

The second-year internship offers an opportunity for students to mature and specialize as clinical interns. With the guidance of the Clinical Coordinator and the clinical guidelines and requirements students can choose their own clinical site which need not have an art therapist on site. This internship lasts the entire academic year and gives the student the experience of being part of a treatment team. Often when students choose an internship site where there is not a pre-existing art therapy service, they receive first hand experience of developing this service, with administrative and clinical supervision. The result of this experience often is the creation of job. A large percentage of the students are offered jobs at the conclusion of their internship in sites where they have created the service. Students receive off-site supervision by a registered art therapist as well as two group small supervisions on campus.

Research

The program contains a research component. All students are required to conduct original research, culminating in the writing of a master’s thesis. The research project stresses the development of skills in the production and the consumption of research. Each student selects a research project with guidance from his or her advisor, based on the student’s interest and the research needs of the profession. Each student is assigned a multidisciplinary thesis committee composed of faculty members within the university and specialists in the field outside of the university. Once completed, theses are bound and become a permanent part of the collection of art therapy literature in the University library. At an annual research colloquium co-sponsored by Drexel University and the Delaware Valley Art Therapy Association, graduating art therapy students present their original research as a way of marking their entry into the profession. Since the master’s thesis is an independent study project the time to complete the thesis varies according to the student’s personal style, type of research, and educational choices.

Specialization

The Art Therapy program offers opportunities for specialization in three ways. First, there are three elective art therapy courses that are offered during the summer between the first and second year of graduate art therapy education. These electives are: Medical Art Therapy, Forensic Art Therapy, and Art Therapy in an Educational Setting. Second, the student may choose a Clinical Internship in the second year that supports their interest to focus upon art therapy with a specific clinical population. Finally, the student may choose a thesis research topic that reflects their interests and aptitudes. The thesis topic can, in some cases, interface with the internship specialization.

Credentialing

The Art Therapy program at Drexel exceeds the curriculum and clinical practicum requirements set forth in the educational standards of the American Art Therapy Association. The program has 90 quarter credits (the equivalent of 60 semester credits), meeting the requirements for post graduate credentialing as a registered  and board certified art therapist.