Here is a rare opportunity to witness world-famous art and drama therapists working with clients from all walks of life on their journeys to healing, including an adolescent boy with Asperger’s, families affected by cancer, an Alzheimer’s patient, and combat veterans.
This video provides an introductory glimpse into the exciting and dynamic world of art therapy. With footage from art therapy sessions conducted all over the world and spanning several decades, you’ll see the diversity of the field and the many benefits to incorporating an art therapy approach into your practice.
Filmed over two years, A Brush with Life is the compelling portrait of Diane, a gifted artist struggling to free herself from mental illness through an innovative art therapy program at the Louis-H. Lafontaine Hospital, Montréal’s largest psychiatric hospital.
This video is a compilation of two films—gemstones of information for those valuing the expressive arts as avenues of treatment for persons seeking healing in mental health settings.
Children express grief differently than adults, but their pain is just as real and their feelings equally as intense. “A Child’s Grief” takes viewers into the lives of eight children in bereavement support group.
This unique, inspiring film provides viewers the opportunity to discover the life and work of Norma Canner, a dance teacher, therapist and pioneer in the field of dance movement therapy, and former instructor at Lesley Expressive Therapy Graduate Schools in Cambridge, MA, and Israel.
This video shows a therapist working with imprisoned women as they use dance, music, and art to share their experiences of prison life - those that include separation, shame, and also shared affection.
This video is a compilation of five short films about Don Seiden, an art therapy pioneer who lived and worked in Chicago. Don’s art, life and contributions to the field of Art Therapy are portrayed from a variety of perspectives, all illuminating how his personal creative process is central to his approach to art therapy, art making and teaching.
This session demonstrates the core of ITR for treating trauma. Linda helps Diane to create a “Graphic Narrative” – a trauma story done in a series of drawings on separate pieces of paper, based on the Instinctual Trauma Response – ITR. A “before” and an “after” drawing serve as bookends to make the story complete and – most importantly – to finally bring the trauma to an end.
This compilation of videos is about Harriet Wadeson and provides the viewer with a thorough understanding of her contributions to the field of art therapy from the 1960s until her death in 2016.
Visual Memories: Internment Survivors and Art Therapy is a documentary following six individuals who had been sent to internment camps during World War II and what they recall of these experiences while making art.
Videotaped sessions from two families show similarities and differences in art and drama family sessions, but interactional patterns and conflicts are illustrated in both, including issues of dominance/submission; victim/aggressor; problem-maker/problem-solver.
This video shows excerpts from a workshop conducted by Judy Rubin, an art therapist, and Ellie Irwin, a drama therapist, with 9 Child Life Therapists and a Music Therapist at a Children’s Hospital. The group is led in art and drama activities, illustrating possible interventions with seriously ill children. In addition to the potential use of the specific exercises, instruction is offered throughout about basic principles for sensitivity and success in ways of incorporating art and drama more safely and effectively. Staff members are invited to raise questions during the training.
This collection regales the viewer with a visual feast of three beautifully filmed videos. Each illustrates another facet of art helping individuals to navigate their cancer experience. Art provides an irreplaceable psychological healing experience during the trauma of cancer.
This is a grouping of films with the common thread of how art has been used throughout history as therapy for the trauma of war. From prisoners in World War II to those that survived the War in Vietnam, the collection shines a light on veterans who turned to art to help them process their intense feelings.
This video contains two films that chronicle the contributions of Dr. Shaun McNiff in expressive arts therapies. His distinctive way of engaging and motivating groups promotes intense involvement by the participants.
Empathy, Neurology, & The Creative Brain is a lecture delivered by Alice Flaherty about the neurological function of both creativity and empathy as they pertain to mental illness and health. In it she offers a cogent exploration of the impact of creativity to both support and obstruct well being.
This video examines four different studio programs for artists with disabilities including Creative Growth in Oakland, California, The Art Therapy Studio Cleveland, Ohio, The Yamagata Fellows International Training Center in New York, and The Artists Workshop in Turin Italy.
One might, at first, think that this video is about Occupational Therapy, as we view Roger, a cancer patient, discuss his project with his art therapist. But asked to talk about how therapy helped him to cope with depression, the emotional and psychological tone of the video changes.
In this video is a compilation of two films about the foundational aspects of art centered therapy, including its art educative, media exploration focus.
In this video, Norma Canner, a movement/dance therapist, works with a diverse group of men and women for four days in the wilderness to experience creative expression and rediscover a child's sense of wonder.
Explore the implementation of art therapy interventions for students with behavioral and/or academic challenges in different school settings. Case studies of elementary and high school students are profiled at two different locations: a public school in the United States and two in England, and underscore the need for accessible interventions in schools.
This video provides a rare, authoritative introduction to the Diagnostic Drawing Series (DDS) by the art therapist largely responsible for its creation and promotion, Barry M. Cohen.
The Art and Activities Therapy Programs introduces participants to the power of self-expression, self-understanding and introspection, as well as helps them cope with stress, ameliorate feelings of isolation, increase self-esteem and self-worth, and solicit mutual support.
The Miami-Dade County Public Schools Clinical Art Therapy Program for grades K-12 offers opportunities to work through obstacles to educational success and helps students experience benefits such as a decrease in disruptive behaviors, experience feelings of empowerment, belonging and confidence.
The Acoustic Memory Project is a concert/performance by art therapist, Dr. Bruce L. Moon. It is a collection of original music and spoken-word, recounting the early days of art therapy in the United States and the formation of the American Art Therapy Association.
with Maxine Junge, Helen B. Landgarten, Shirley Riley
“Being a real family art therapist is different than just using art with the family,” states Maxine Junge, Ph.D, ATR-BC, HLM who hosts this historic look at the work of three premier family art therapists. Learn from these pioneers’ actual art therapy sessions with families in need.
Led by Board Certified Art Therapist and licensed marriage/family therapist, Diane Safran, this is a film of an art therapy group for couples where one partner was diagnosed with ADHD. The group met for over a decade.
This film features Dr. Mala Betensky, one of the pioneers in art therapy, doing art therapy with a middle-aged couple struggling with relationship and communication difficulties.
Two art therapists, Carole Kunkle-Miller and Harriet Wadeson, conduct art therapy assessments with couples. They demonstrate that the art exercises performed enable the couples to discuss their issues. One sees how members of a couple can work nonverbally as well as how they perceive each other and wish their partner to be.
The 2007 Savera Seminar in Chennai, India represents a seminal event in the development of art therapy in India. This video offers foundational information on art therapy and developmental art stages, highlighting the usefulness of engaging children in the arts as a tool to understanding their world view and experience.
Witness the experiences of chronically mentally ill clients as they prepare for an exhibit. Baer talks with them as they create and review their artwork, validates their accomplishments, reminds them of past artwork, and makes observations to stimulate creative thinking.
Ed, a long-term cancer survivor, discusses his therapeutic artwork. Articulate and introspective, Ed deliberates about what he was experiencing as well as the physical and psychological issues arising from his long course of treatment for testicular cancer.
This video tells the story of an exploratory art program in a school for blind children with multiple disabilities. Exceeding all expectations regarding their abilities, they express powerful feelings in and through their art.
Explore how art therapy can enrich and give meaning to older adults; and can affirm the wisdom and self-awareness that comes to those who have lived a full life, and developed the capacity to manage a multitude of challenges.
This video demonstrates the power of art as a universal language for healing in all cultures. From its beginnings in Europe to its development in the US and the UK, art therapy has spread rapidly to all parts of Europe, as well as to Central and South America, Oceania, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
This video's aim was to complement early UK publications on Art Therapy in the 1980s, and to respond to the many questions from interested members of the public, potential students and employers as to what actually happens in art therapy sessions.
with Carole Kunkle-Miller, Myra Levick, Rosemarie Perla
Two art therapists demonstrate three different approaches while working with four young women to identify and address problems they are experiencing. Through drawing, they gain insight into the issues involved as well as ways of confronting them.
This video tells the story of Richard Wawro, an artist from Scotland who was diagnosed with autism from a very young age. Despite severely limited vision, Wawro was deeply invested in his drawings and was supported by Dr. Becker, the producer of the film and an expert on the condition.
An intriguing music documentary about world-traveled composer and conductor Joel Thome, “Inside The Perfect Circle” provides a close personal look at Thome’s career and philosophy and how he used music as a resource for healing following a stroke, resuming composing and returning to the stage.
Deborah Koff-Chapin, creator of Touch Drawing®, shares her personal journey using this expressive process. Updated with an additional three-minute documentary of a live workshop, plus a 15-minute TED-style talk recorded in 2015, the film interweaves themes of creativity, personal health, and community.
Narrated by Walter Cronkite, this award-winning film illustrates the benefits of incorporating creativity and expressive arts into the lives and treatment of elders.
Suzanne Palmer Lovell, PhD, traces her journey from the diagnosis of uterine cancer through her subsequent surgery and recovery. Using art, movement and dreams, she began to befriend herself as part of her healing and reclamation of her body, mind and spirit.
In this video, arts therapists with specialties in dance/movement, music, and art are seen working with special needs children of elementary school age in different schools, explaining why they work the way they do.
Cine Golden Eagle award winning The Journey of Butterfly weaves together music, art, poetry and the history of children imprisoned in the Ghetto Terezin from 1941 to 1945, where they created the art, performed operas and concerts.
This documentary follows a group of American war veterans as they explore the deep and lasting effects that the Afghanistan and Iraq wars had on them, their families, and their communities, and how the arts can help with their healing.
Focusing-Oriented Arts Therapy (FOAT®) is a mindfulness-based approach that integrates Focusing, developed by Dr. Eugene Gendlin, with the expressive arts therapies. This video showcases a workshop presented by Laury Rappaport at the 2nd World Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy Conference.
Produced in cooperation with the American Art Therapy Association (AATA), this compilation contains two films, Art Therapy Beginnings – Assessing Clients for Treatment and Visionaries, Pioneers, and Early Settlers – The Story of the American Art Therapy Association.
With Anne Brownell’s articulate narration, the viewer is given an intimate look at the work of two pioneers in expressive arts therapy – Norma Canner and Penny Lewis.
In Drama Therapy with Children, Dr. Eleanor Irwinhelps viewers understand the vast potential of play-acting as a tool in child psychology. Topics include spontaneous dramatic play, puppetry, body movement, storytelling, and dream exploration by children of all ages in school and community settings.
Two films make up Expressive Arts Therapy Groups - both demonstrating expressive modalities and major therapeutic tools, along with music, movement, poetry, and filmmaking.
Dr. Judy Rubin shows how to apply art therapy theory and use art for assessment with families. One will discover how the art therapist and family simultaneously gain insight through experience in the assessment process.
Family Video Art Therapy documents two family art evaluation sessions and a follow-up video feedback session conducted by Irene Jakab, MD, PhD and Judith Rubin, PhD, ATR. As they discuss their drawings, they reflect on their feelings and discuss them with the facilitators.
Focusing-Oriented Arts Therapy (FOAT) is a mindfulness-based approach that integrates Focusing, developed by Dr. Eugene Gendlin, with the expressive arts therapies. This video showcases Laury Rappaport working with a client.
In this video, Violet Oaklander sensitively guides two children in the exploration of their conflicts while engaging them in the therapeutic use of clay and sand.
Led by Board Certified Art Therapist Diane Safran, this psychoeducational group focused on self-esteem, interpersonal relationships, and managing ADHD for middle school youth.
Judith A. Rubin implements art-based questions to gain insight related to the development of adolescents. Through meeting with individuals one-on-one and showing curiosity about the art as well as the individual, Judy uncovers situational, transitional, and environmental factors underlying their behavior.
with Pierre Boenig-Scherel, Carole Kunkle-Miller, Craig Siegel
This video features three art therapists working individually with neuro-diverse boys between 11 and 18 years old. In its three different experiential vignettes many instructional points are conveyed in vivo.
This two-part video demonstrates two approaches to working with women who struggle with depression and interpersonal relationships. Through art, they can begin to externalize and express their feelings.
with Judith Rubin, PhD & Eleanor Irwin, PhD, Carole Kunkle-Miller
While many arts therapists doing child assessments have adequate play space and an abundance of play materials, this is not always the case. This video showcases how therapists can help a child make up a personalized story or fantasy regardless of abundancy of materials.
This in-depth dance/movement therapy session provides a window into the brilliant work of Penny Lewis, Ph.D. Dr. Lewis illustrates her ability to adeptly integrate sophisticated theory, using the Kestenberg Movement Profile (KMP) and psychodynamic theory into her clinical practice.
This video shows four different children (ages 6 to 13 years old) in therapy using puppets. Through four different sessions, conducted by three different therapists (two drama therapists, and one child psychiatrist), one can see how the clinician listens to and follows the interactions.
with Sharon Chaiklin, Eliana Gil, Peggy Heller, Eleanor C. Irwin, Clive Robbins, Judith Aron Rubin
This film documents over 6 hours of a weekend-long conference called “Integrating the Arts in Therapy: Art, Music, Dance, Drama, Poetry, Play,” held July 2009 in Alexandria, Virginia.
This documentary highlights the psychological and educational lessons that Fred Rogers taught through music, puppetry and metaphor – in a powerful way that was both authentic and direct.
In this video, two noted pioneers in art therapy, Dr. Judith Rubin and Edith Kramer, provide an art therapy session for the same child, a 10-year-old girl in the outpatient clinic of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
This film introduces the work of the Sesame Institute UK and International, a London based charity which was born out of a dream of the founder, Marian Billy Lindkvist, in1964. Taking its name from the ancient Ali Baba story, the password “Open Sesame” opens door to inner riches.
This informative film shows two sessions from an open-ended art therapy group from Walter Reed Army Medical Center. All soldiers in this group were leaving the military and each had to decide and make a personal commitment to attend the group. Paula Howie, HLM, ATR-BC, is the art therapist.
with Eleanor C. Irwin, Rosemarie Perla, Judith Aron Rubin
In this video, teenaged siblings, Ben and Anna, are in expressive therapy (art and drama) sessions. The video provides three different examples of how different therapists use their helping skills that might be applied to work with couples or groups as well.
This video shows activities in multiple arts modalities—music, dance, art, and drama—in a creative arts program for young children at risk for the development of emotional problems.
This teaching video demonstrates how a therapist observes the decision making process within a family, the roles and patterns of behavior among family members, and the symbolic communication in their play with puppets.
In this video Patricia Waters, MA, ATR, examines the inner journey of her life, viewing 50 years of her artwork as a process of self-revelation and transformation.
This video, narrated by Dr. Gussie Klorer, PhD, ATR-BC, HLM, follows the course of 26 years of intermittent treatment with a client who first entered therapy at age 4 due to abuse, neglect, and abandonment.
This 1996 video, Dr. Gladys Agell ATR-BC, HLM, pioneer art therapist, clinician, educator and researcher, administers the Ulman Personality Assessment Procedure (UPAP) to a 22-year-old patient at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital.
This rare footage shows Elinor Ulman and Bernard Levy at Walter Reed Army Medical Center presenting the Ulman Personality Assessment Procedure (UPAP) at the hospital’s psychiatric Grand Rounds.
Wheels of Diversity in Art Therapy: Pioneers of Color highlights art therapists of color in the United States who have been instrumental in advancing multicultural and diversity competence within the profession.
Discover the courage, commitment, and creative coping skills of Mickie McGraw who, together with Dr. George Streeter, founded a hospital-based art therapy program that has served as a blueprint for using art therapy to help individuals move forward in the face of daunting medical diagnoses and disabilities.
This is a beautiful film about the history and present situation of the artist’s house at Gugging Mental Hospital. 14 mentally ill patients live and create in a supportive studio environment on the hospital grounds.
with Alfred Bader, MD Oren Rudavsky, Judith Rothschild, MA Tea Taramino
This series of short films documents various approaches to animation created by persons with chronic mental illness to illustrate their personal narratives.
with James Babanikos, Joan Baranow, Judith Aron Rubin
This grouping of two films about a pioneering Arts in Medicine program is presented along with interviews of two creative arts therapists who work in that program. The touching experiences shared by the patients engaged in expressive arts treatment remind us of why one begins to create in the first place.
This compilation of four films and two interviews delve into the life and work of Don Jones. Interviews include his interest in art and his discovery while working in a mental hospital of the spontaneous art of the patients, his portraits of them, and his time at the Menninger Foundation where he was trained by Dr. Karl Menninger.
This compilation includes two films and one interview with Edith Kramer (1994, 1999, 2005) documenting her life and work as a pioneer in the field of art therapy.
This video features Dora Kalff, a Jungian child analyst from Zurich, who offers her patients a sandbox along with a large array of miniature objects to be used in making sandplay constructions.
This film offers the opportunity to view Sondra Geller, MA, ATR-BC, LPC, LCPAT as she meets for multiple art therapy sessions with a graduating senior at the George Washington University Counseling Center.
This is a compilation of films by and about Robert E. Ault, one of the pioneers in art therapy. Watch Ault as he discusses the field and its powerful healing capabilities, and learn about the impact he made with those who worked with him.
with Karina Epperlein, G. Kwame Scruggs, PhD, Robert Miller, MS
This film is built around a long excerpt from a 2014 award-winning film by Karina Epperlein about Alchemy, Inc., an award-winning after school youth program fusing drumming and mythology, in a well-designed and powerful approach.
Wheel art is an inspired and highly therapeutic approach for people of all ages who need to use a wheelchair - invented and implemented by art therapist Mickie McGraw, herself in a wheelchair due to polio at age 11.
This is a collection of short films about art as therapy for older adults. All of them share certain convictions about the value of art —the intense involvement of creating, the pleasure of manipulating the media, making decisions, playfulness, social interaction and pride.
“Lessons From Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” was conceived, edited, and directed by trail-blazing art therapist, psychoanalyst and initiator of the web streaming project, Dr. Judy A. Rubin.
In this video, several noted psychiatrists use art in their work with children, illustrating the nature of their interaction, how they develop a relationship, and their use of interpretation.
This is your chance to sit in on a conversation with art therapy pioneer, Judy Rubin, PhD, and Psychotherapy.net founder, Victor Yalom as they discuss the power of artistic expression in therapy. Dr. Rubin shares stories of her life’s work as an art therapist, including techniques and various media she used to help clients get in touch with themselves.
