Art Therapy: Is it art, science or both?

[hmazloomian]

I would like to get a discussion starting on this issue. I have heard very different views on this subject and so it may help to have a dialogue to help us clarify how we see things and if there are points of agreement between the diverse ways of thinking about art therapy. Is the whole frame- work of thinking about art therapy within the western academic tradition useful in defining working in a multicultural society? What other ways of thinking about ourselves are there? I hope this enough for a start. What do you think?
Regards Hoda

[Ranada]

I would like to be a part of this discussion. I am currently a grad student with an undergrad degree in art education. I have taught school and would like to do art and play therapy with children when I graduate.
I feel that art therapy is art, science, emotions, religion and dimensions we may never be able to explain or understand.
Having had my art degree art was something I have done for years drawn from talent and training. When I began experiencing art therapy for my own problems and struggles the only way I am able to describe this is that a magical transformation took place, something happened that I may never be able to explain or describe.
Does this lead itself to the direction you wanted this discussion to go, or am beginning a new direction and focus?

[hmazloomian]

I think you are referring to an illusive something that makes the whole more than the sum of its parts. At the same time I think there is value in trying to recognize, study and understand the parts and see how they relate to one another. There is a tendency in psychology and in art therapy for many prominent Practitioners to take an adversarial stance towards other approaches. This is a shame because I believe that we are all looking at a still life from our own point of view and talking essentially about different aspects of the same thing. We have a choice to try to include everyone’s voices/images and enrich the profession or insist on our incomplete picture as the only true way.