Art therapy is sometimes mistaken for being only for people who “know how to make art”. Some think it is necessary to be a good painter, musician or dancer in order to take part in creative therapies such as art therapy, expressive arts therapy, dance therapy, drama therapy, music therapy or poetry therapy. This is not true. Often the opposite is the case. People who are trained or passionate artists sometimes have to “unlearn” the rules by which they have been using their form of art.
Art education starts often at a young age. In school we are taught how to draw, to paint, how to write, and how not to. Many times it is about beauty. A picture is categorised as either pretty or ugly. Artwork gets marked – good or bad. Which makes the creator either a good or bad artist.
In art therapy there is no good or bad artwork. The goal is not to teach how to draw, dance or write etc., and not to create a “masterpiece”. Art therapy is a judgement-free zone, where the focus is on the creative process and the learnings and experiences that emerge.
As with all forms of therapy, art therapy is accompanied by a qualified therapist, who is responsible for holding a space in which the person seeking support can make new experiences, experiment and explore and reflect on feelings, thoughts and situations.
There are different types of art therapy, including emotion-based art therapy and mindfulness-based art therapy.
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