National Art Education Association

History of Art Therapy

Author(s): Gladys Agell
Source: Art Education, Vol. 33, No. 4, Art Therapy and Art Education (Apr., 1980), pp. 8-9
Published by: National Art Education Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3192414
Accessed: 07-04-2018 01:57 UTC

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 History of
V. Lowenfeld, Creative and Mental educator, and the artist to identify
Growth, 3rd edition, New York: The commonalities as well as differences
Macmillan Co., 1957. in order to select possible appropriate
P. McVickar, "The Creative Proc-
ess in Young Children," Journal of
strategies for the future. This strategy
planning also helps to recognize the
Art Therapy
Nursery Education, 1959, Vol. 14, parameters of professional teams in
No. 3, pp. 11-16. those institutions, special schools,
M. Naumburg, "Studies of the and other settings which house art
'Free' Art Expression of Behavior therapy programs, and for those who
Problem Children and Adolescents as are planning and projecting toward fu-
a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy," ture art therapy programs or units.
Nervous and Mental Disorders It is interesting, and important, to
Monograph, No. 71, 1947, new edi- recognize the misunderstandings in
tion: An Introduction to Art Therapy,art therapy that are briefly discussed "Today
"Today Students
StudentsAre
AreBeing
Being
New York: Teachers College Press, in Rubin's article; the misunderstand- Placed, and Graduates are
1973. ings and ". . . abuses of what were
T. A. Pasto, "Art Therapy and Art
Finding Employment Not
(and still are) basically sound con-
Instruction," Confinia Psychiatrica, cepts" that need to be recognized in Only in Traditional
1961, Vol. 5, No. 4, pp. 243-250. order to move on with clarity and with Psychiatric, Rehabilitative,
Also: Voices, 1969, Vol. 4, No. 4, pp. professional integrity. Rubin empha-
19-24. sizes the importance for the art
and Special Education
H. Prinzhorn, Artistry of the Men- therapist and the art educator to Settings, but Also in
tally III, New York: Springer-Verlag, dialogue, to arrive at mutual inter- General Hospitals,
1972 (Reissue). change, and professional understand-
J. A. Rubin, Child Art Therapy: ing. Any child, adolescent, or adult
Programs for the Physically
Understanding and Helping Children can reap countless benefits from the Disabled, Agencies
Grow Through Art, New York: Van professional who has placed the indi- Providing Home-Care for
Nostrand Reinhold, 1978. vidual's best interests as a paramount
S. D. Stoner, "Art Education and concern. the Terminally Ill, and
Art Therapy: Dynamic Duo?" B. K. Recently, Programs
Mandel et al., eds., The Dynamics of Gary C. Barlow, Ed.D., ATR, is pro-
fessor of art education and art
Focused on Primary
Creativity, Baltimore, Maryland:
therapy, and coordinator of art Prevention
AATA, 1978, pp. 14-19.
E. Ulman, "Art Therapy: Problems therapy, Wright State University,
of Definitions," Bulletin of Art Dayton, Ohio.
Therapy, 1961, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp.
10-20. Gladys Agell
, "A New Use of Art in Psy-
chiatric Diagnosis," Bulletin of Art The history of art therapy educa-
Therapy, 1965, Vol. 4, pp. 91-116. tion, parallel with that of art
R. Wolf, "Art Therapy in a Public therapy itself, is characterized by a
Schools," American Journal of Art rather long gestation period followed
Therapy, 1973, Vol. 12, pp. 119-127. by a period of spectacular growth. For
a long time it seemed as if nothing
much was happening, and then all of a
sudden the field was galloping ahead
COMMENTARY _ 5^ ^ ~AGES 9-109 at a breathtaking pace. The problems
we face today can best be under-
Gary C. Barlow 7 Dolphin rts stood on the basis of this historical
SUMMER FINE ARTS CAMPS
background.
By reading Dr. Rubin's article In the United States in the 1930's
one can capture a glimpse of the
rich history underlying the field of art *painting art therapy was being noticed and re-
marked on in the literature mainly be-
therapy as we know it today. The
paradoxes are certainly there: the
*ceramics cause of the tenacity and astonishing
efforts of Margaret Naumburg. Thirty
young-old constructs within art
therapy; the diverse bases of opera-
*jewelry years later, in 1961, five institutions
offered a total of seven courses in art
tion; the ancient-new aspects of heal- *photography therapy, taught by four art therapists
ing. This complex formulation toward (Naumburg was still among them). By
+ m ore:10 MUSIC,DANCE
+ Ore THEATRE,C ASS
a recognized discipline gives art CREATIVE WRITING,SCULPTURE
1971, there were four programs offer-
therapy a sense of interest, a wealth of ing master's degrees in art therapy.
theory and methodology upon which weekly camps These were housed in two univer-
to draw, and even a sense of intrigue sities, one medical college, and one
which makes us unique in the health June15 -July18 0to
college renowned for its fine arts
related professions. JACKSONVILLE UNIVERSITY
studies. In addition, single courses
Dr. Rubin alludes to the importance JACKSONVII I E, FLORIDA 32211 were offered in academic institutions
for the art therapist, the clinician, the INDEPENDENT COED NON DISCRIMINATORY across the country.

3 Art Education April 1980

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 Currently in the United States rigidly
rigidly limiting
limitingthethefocus
focusand
andvariety tice,
tice, art
variety art therapy
therapyisisnownowapplied
applied inin a a
(there are also European training pro- of developing education. The much
much broader
broaderrangerangeofofsettings
settings than
than
grams), there are twenty-two graduate Guidelines document expresses the was
was the
the case
case only
onlya afew
fewyears
yearsago.
ago.
programs offering either concentra- Association's belief that professional Today Today students
studentsare arebeing
beingplaced,
placed, andand
tions or degrees in art therapy; forty- entry is at the graduate level and re- graduates
graduates arearefinding
findingemployment
employment not
not
one undergraduate programs offering commends the didactic and practicum only only inin traditional
traditionalpsychiatric,
psychiatric, re-re-
preparation for graduate level study; experience viewed as essential to habilitative,
habilitative, andandspecial
specialeducation
education set-
set-
ten clinical programs, either with Master's level training in the field. tings,
tings, but
but also
alsoin ingeneral
generalhospitals,
hospitals,
academic affiliations or offering a AATA voiced support not only for programsprograms for forthe thephysically
physicallydisabled,
disabled,
combination of didactic and practicum academic but also for alternative train- agencies
agencies providing
providinghome-care
home-carefor for thethe
training; four certificate programs ing models, and implemented this terminally
terminally ill,ill,and
andrecently,
recently,programs
programs
providing post-baccalaureate or support by formulating and adopting focused focused on on primary
primaryprevention.
prevention.
post-graduate training; eight special Criteria for Clinical Training as well Training
Training programs
programsfacedfacedwith
withthethe
programs composed of institutions as an approval process for endorse- complex
complex competencies
competenciesneededneededforfor
and centers providing special training ment of clinical programs. The students
students to to assume
assumeprofessional
professional life
life
opportunities; and twenty-eight col- Criteria document encourages devel- have been challenged. AATA con-
leges and universities that offer one or opment of the special strengths found tinues to review its policies in order to
more courses in art therapy. New in clinical settings; it describes a offer guidance to educators without
programs continue to develop; evi- course of study that includes theory stifling innovation. We are constantly
dently, Margaret Naumburg's voice and provides for immediate super- faced with new challenges: among the
carried. vised application of theoretical con- issues now confronting us are ap-
In the early days, courses were of- structs in practicum. proval for nontraditional training pro-
fered by art therapists who, convinced With the unheralded and rapid de- grams; whether to evaluate the foreign
of the special qualities inherent in art, velopment of training programs in the training programs now seeking AATA
persuaded others-artists, teachers, '70's, it became abundantly clear that approval; and whether (and how) to
and clinicians-that art expression if AATA were to assist the educa- move from approval to accreditation.
provided an enduring, moving, and tional development of the field, the Certainly, members of a discipline
sometimes exquisite message of organization had the additional re- based on a belief in the human poten-
human experience. Much of the early sponsibility of investigating the qual- tial for creative thought and action can
course work was a review of profes- ity of training being offered. Accredit- be expected to address these issues
sional experience and case material ation of educational programs was a with sophistication, vigor, and origi-
derived from work with hospitalized long-range goal, but dialogues with nality.
patients, private clients, and "behav- the Council on Post-secondary Ac-
ior problem children" in residencies creditation (COPA) convinced AATA Gladys Agell, ATR, is associate pro-
and special schools. Pioneering efforts representatives that attempts to be anfessor and director, Graduate Art
of these therapist/instructors brought accrediting agency were still prema-Therapy Program, Vermont College
forward others who had similar expe-ture. However, guided by COPA, the of Norwich University, Montpelier,
riences in special care facilities, but first step toward accreditation was Vermont, and past Education Com-
who did not know what to call them- taken. An approval process based on mittee chairperson, American Art
selves, the process, or the results ofself-evaluation questionnaires was Therapy Association.
the special thing they did. implemented for programs offering a
In 1961, Elinor Ulman founded the Master's degree in art therapy. A spe-
American Journal of Art Therapy cial committee, the Education and
COMMENTARY
(AJAT), formerly Bulletin of Art Training Board, was formed for the
Therapy. The AJAT provided a schol- purpose of reviewing self-evaluation Donald Uhlin
arly publication for those interested in data. The Education and Training
the therapeutic use of art and was not- Board reports its recommendations to Gladys Agell clearly reviews
ably instrumental in consolidating the Executive Board of the American the development of art therapy
what had been scattered efforts of Art Therapy Association, which has education with clarity and accuracy.
practitioners to draw attention to their the final responsibility of deciding It should be noted that a number of
work. Encouraged by the publication whether a program will be awarded training programs applied for approval
of the Journal and the forum it pro- approval. Initial program applicants status in 1979 and were given exten-
were reviewed during 1979, and a
vided, formerly isolated art therapists sive review by the Education and
unified and in 1969 founded the formal public announcement of those Training Board, as delineated by Agell
American Art Therapy Association programs meeting approval criteria as in the article. These program applica-
(AATA). Finally, art therapists had a established by the American Art tions were reviewed by the Executive
structure for promoting their field. Therapy Association will be made in
Board of the American Art Therapy
The support of training develop- the Spring, 1980. Association in November, 1979, and
ment was high among the priorities of Art therapy training must develop formal announcements of the status of
AATA. Disparate views coming from to meet the needs of a discipline that these first applicants will be made in
practioners whose experience and was complex from the start and is 1980. We expect additional applica-
emphasis varied widely were taken not growing simpler. Originally tions yearly, and the applications, re-
into consideration. Guidelines for Artinterdisciplinary-drawing for its view, and reporting process will be-
Therapy Training is the document theory on psychoanalysis, psychol- come an integral part of the responsi-
written and adopted by the Associa- ogy, aesthetics, and art education- bility of both the Education and Train-
tion to provide direction and funda- art therapy has begun to construct itsing Board, and the Executive Board of
mental standards for training withoutown conceptual framework. In prac-the American Art Therapy Associa-

Art Education April 1980 9

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