On Art and Therapy: An Exploration

The term "art therapy" was coined when it was recognized that painting, drawing and modelling had healing effects on people. The early practitioners saw themselves as facilitators in setting free a spontaneous inaginative activity. In this text the author makes a plea for the therapist to return to a trust in the therapeutic value of the creative process itself. Drawing on her memories of working with some of the pioneers of art therapy, and on her own experience as a painter and as an art therapy practitionar, her argument surfaces through observation, speculation, case history and quotations from artists, poets and analysts.