Definitions and Associations + Key Personalities and Theoretical Orientations

Question 1

What is the CATA’s definition of art therapy?

Answer 1

• combines creative process & psychotherapy, facilitates self-exploration & understanding
• uses imagery, colour & shape as part of therapeutic process to express thoughts & feelings difficult to articulate

Question 2

What is the AATA’s definition of art therapy?

Answer 2

mental health profession that enriches lives of individuals, families, and communities through active art-making, creative process, applied psychological theory, and human experience within psychotherapeutic relationship

Question 3

What is the required knowledge for practice of the AATA?

Answer 3

master’s-level degree or higher trained in art & therapy that serve diverse communities in different settings

Question 4

What are the educational requirements for registration with the CATA?

Answer 4

• master’s level diploma/degree in AT: incl. 700 hrs supervised clinical practicum
• Registered Canadian AT: additional training, clinical supervision beyond graduation, involvement in AT community & experience with variety of clients in diverse settings

Question 5

What was Ellen Dissanayake’s role as an anthropologist in the field of art therapy?

Answer 5

• underscored value of crafts in continuum of art making: humans have basic need to embellish, decorate, and “make special”
• considered art as behaviour for survival of species, the arts integral to many life activities in most societies
• identified “making special”; distinguishes art making from other behaviours

Question 6

What were Selwyn Dewdney’s contributions to art therapy in Canada?

Answer 6

1952: appointed psychiatric art therapist at Westminster Hospital in London, Ontario – first art therapy position in Canada
- began art instruction to patients

trained others interested in art therapy, including Irene

Question 7

What were Irene Dewdney’s contributions to art therapy in Canada?

Answer 7

• developed “objective approach” to AT
• formed student organisation that turned into Ontario AT Association in 1978
• informal training program led to establishment of Graduate Diploma Program in AT at Uni. of Western Ontario in 1986

Question 8

What were the Dewdney’s contributions to art therapy in Canada?

Answer 8

• political activists: brought together political principles & art
• encouraged art as a vehicle for social empowerment
• worked for 20 years to set up & deliver services in art therapy clinics at Westminster, St. Joseph & London Psychiatric Hospital

Question 9

What was Cathy Moon’s association with studio-based art therapy?

Answer 9

• practice of studio model of art therapy is possible anywhere
• arts viewed democratically: equal right to access & representation in cultural life of community
• art therapist is collaborator & co-participant: acknowledge & address power differentials
• studio is sensory & relational playground/workspace where interactions occur between & with media
• open studio approach has non‐directive & unstructured way of working