By:  Paul Lee, Artist, Art Therapist and Consultant
MA (Art Therapy), BA (RMIT)
Copyright, March, 2010, All Rights Reserved

Paul Lee: Art therapy is a therapy that uses art as core therapeutic platform to connect our mind and body for health and wellness. It can be used to discover and in search of our talents, creative self and strength within our inner resources. Art therapy is a subtle, safe and powerful approach for us to express, resolve and relief from all kinds of pressure or stress from life. It is because art can access to our right side of the brain and allows manifestation of our authentic feelings, emotions, joy, happiness and inner self. Art as therapy or in therapy could be experienced during and after the process of art making. In art therapy, no background in art is required and it is suitable for all age group.
 

Q: Is taking art lesson considers an art therapy?

Paul Lee: No. When we take art lesson, it is an educational journey with skills and knowledge to be transferred. Art therapy is a therapeutic journey of expression and creativity. Therefore, in art therapy there is little or no education to be involved. It is a session that provides space for expression in creative ways and exploring inner self. Art therapy is essentially different from art lesson. Nevertheless, these two could cross each other and it is possible for art education to be integrated with art therapy or vice versa. Also, it is useful but not necessary for a person to obtain skills in art making through art lesson because your expression can be at different level when coming into art therapy space. In addition, art teacher or instructor usually conducts art lesson. 
 

Q: What is the difference between art teacher and art therapist?

Paul Lee: Art teacher or instructor is not the same as art therapist because of the profession and works are different. Art therapist is a mastered-level professional who is trained in arts and psychotherapy. Art therapists are trained to facilitate therapeutic process and development. On the other hand, art teachers usually trained in arts and focusing on skills development. However, it is very useful when an art therapist is a skilled artist and art teacher because facilitation in art therapy involves many facets of art making and materials to tap into different psychological of human being. Indeed, if the art therapists are skilled artists and creativity, they could facilitate creativity development in addition to art therapy.
 

Q: What are the benefits of art therapy in general?

Paul Lee: Art therapy could provide many benefits to different populations and needs. In general, there are five core benefits that art therapy offers:

1. Relaxation: When we work on art, it usually provides us a sense of relaxation to our mind. It is because there is no right or wrong in art and you do not need logical reasoning to make an art. In other words, making art is not the task of the left side of our brain. It is the function of the right side of our brain, which takes care of feelings, emotions, relaxation, joy, happiness and creativity. When we feel relaxed, we could rejuvenate our mind. Relaxation in art therapy helps our mind to be stronger and we become more creative in looking things and solving problems. 

2. Freedom of Choice and Control: Art therapy offers us freedom of choice and feeling of taking charge of our life. It is because we could choose the type of tool, how we use it, how much, what is the choice of colour, and option of personal theme to create based on our level of readiness, comfort and mood. We feel good when we’re in charge and free to choose what we like. Visual space in art therapy provides us almost unlimited creativity. The joy and happiness are possible in art therapy. For example, a child discovers joy and happiness by simply making art. 

3. Creative expression: Art is a form of expression that is non-verbal and creative. When we do art therapy, there is no limit in our creative expression. Art therapy offers free from judgement, rules or boundary. We usually feel good and relief after expressing our deep feelings and emotions. Art therapy is wonderful way to let your creativity fosters and great for reflection of the journey. 

4. Awareness and Reflection of Inner Self: Art therapy provides a platform that no other therapy could provide us to reflect our inner self and including hidden talents that we are not aware about them. It allows our creative self to be surfaced through creative use of art. With the help from an art therapist, you could discover your strength and creative inner self. These are great resources to develop and keep active because we will need them in challenging times.

5. Health and Wellness: Art therapy is a powerful source to connect our mind and body for good health and wellness through positive resources within us. Art therapy is a good breakaway from routine and stressful work or life. When we are deep into art therapy, we could feel good about ourselves. With this feeling, it helps to improve our mind with positive thinking and active lifestyles. Art therapy is also a source to access the happiness in our right brain. With regular therapy through art, we could improve our mental health and wellness. 
 

Q: What are the benefits of art therapy to a working professional. 

Paul Lee: In addition to the above five core benefits, art therapy can provide additional advantages to working professionals. This is because working professionals under different kind of challenges in their roles and life. These challenges are complex and require a channel that is creative, soft and holistic. Art therapy has a capacity to express, contain, resolve, and relief them in an unlimited space. Therefore, art therapy is recommended for working professional to breakaway from their works, home, work-specific challenges and pressures. They could use art therapy to rejuvenate from these stresses and build up strength to juggle multiple tasks. Furthermore, women could use art as metaphor and container because of their multi-faceted roles as staff, supervisiors, managers, employers, employees, parents, and the like. Regular art therapy therefore significant and useful to help working professionals to find a balance, strength, resources and relief.
 

Q: How art therapy can be used for children such as helping them set up a good foundation of articulating their thoughts & feelings (healthy feelings and self-image etc.)

Paul Lee: Children simply find joy, happiness and creativity in making art. This is so even it is messy, dirty and sticky with some art materials. It is because art is a unique space for them to explore, learn, and enjoy with freedom of choice and expression. It is therefore useful for children to engage into art frequently during their growing up journey. They could learn how to express their feelings and emotions through art. They could also use art therapy to find their strength and talents to help them cope with growing up challenges in school and home. Art therapy is useful for them to be feeling good after expression and a safe source for any difficult feelings to be released. They could learn about themselves through art therapy for personal development and healthy lifestyle. 
 

Q: Can art therapy be administered as DIY exercise?

Paul Lee: Yes, art as therapy can be done as DIY process for personal health and self-care. It can be implemented with minimum of investment and tools. You will need a sketchbook and a set of color pencils to begin. IMPORTANT: Treat yourself good quality materials because it is a therapy. Here are some tips when doing DIY Art as Therapy:

1. The user should use it once a week and minimize the use of words.  Try to express out any feelings and emotions through the use of colors, shapes, images and graphics. It is not necessarily to be nice drawings but to use art as a channel to relief our emotions and feelings. 

2. You need to commit yourself for a minimum half an hour each week at a private, safe and personal space to do art.

3. Ideally, there should be no interruption (You may need to switch off mobile phone, computer, TV, radio, MP3, etc.)

4. Record down your happy moment, joy, dream, wishes, and things that are significant to you. 

5. IMPORTANT NOTE: DATED each artwork because it is useful when you need to do review and reflect at later stage. You should treat this sketchbook as personal and confidential records of yourself. IMPORTANT NOTE: art as therapy is not to draw pretty pictures and exhibit. It is common for people to pass their judgement and belittle your arts. But it does not matter because in art as therapy, it is the process that you have experienced and growth in therapeutic. 
6. You may share this sketchbook to someone you feel comfortable with.

Q: What is the difference with or without art therapist when doing art?

Paul Lee: Art as therapy in DIY kit is great for personal expressions and creative visual journal. The difference with or without art therapist could be significant because when facilitated by an art therapist, you might experience different level of therapeutic experience. When you do art as DIY, it requires self-discipline and commitment to see the result. If your work is busy and life is preoccupied, doing art randomly might be limited for your personal growth, health and development. In addition, you might not know how to process your art and creative journey. There are many art materials that work for different therapeutic needs. When you do art with an art therapist, he or she could help you to process and understand your art and creative self. Art therapist could help you in finding your hidden strength and resources. Furthermore, art therapist can be available to facilitate, to resolve, to intervene and to contain any unresolved issues. Art therapy with art therapist can be done individually, or as a group and members could find strength from each other. 

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