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Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy

Association
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Welcome to Y2K: Is Art Therapy a Profession or an

Idea?
a
Cathy A. Malchiodi MA, ATR, LPAT, LPCC
a
Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association
Published online: 22 Apr 2011.

To cite this article: Cathy A. Malchiodi MA, ATR, LPAT, LPCC (2000) Welcome to Y2K: Is Art Therapy a Profession or an Idea?,
Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 17:1, 2-3, DOI: 10.1080/07421656.2000.10129435

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2000.10129435

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 E ditorial
Welcome to Y2K: Is Art Therapy a Profession or an Idea?
Cathy A. Malchiodi, MA, ATR, LPAT, LPCC, Editor
In recognition of a turning point on the calendar to the year
2000, the next four issues of Art Therapy feature a series of essays
by prominent art therapists clinicians, educators, administra-
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tors, artists, and writers in the field. This group of individuals was
asked the following question: Is art therapy a profession or an
idea? The question was offered to stimulate discussion and dis-
course on: 1) how we define both the profession and ideas behind
what we call art therapy; and 2) how or if the field has truly estab-
lished itself as a profession in its own right.
A recent survey by the Committee on Professional Practice
underscores many of the practical issues that emerge from the
question of whether or not art therapy is a recognized profession
or an idea (Berkowitz & Gussak, in press). The authors state:
Overall, this study supports the belief that art therapists contin-
ue to be creative in their job pursuits; maintain many other duties
than just art therapy; are not reimbursable in most settings unless
working under another title or credential, or creative in finding
other funding sources. Naomi Berkowitz goes on to say that it
appears that much more work is needed to truly find out what it
will take to establish our profession more solidly. David Gussak,
whose essay appears in this issue, also brought similar observations
to an oral presentation at the recent AATA Conference, What
Are Art Therapists? Finding a Place That Makes Sense. Gussak
observed that the profession has difficulty articulating exactly
what an art therapist does, and suggested that this struggle to
explain who we are and what we do may arise from our own lack
of understanding how and why art therapy works.
I have personally grappled with the question of whether art
therapy is a profession or an idea at various times in my own
philosophical development and have often come face-to-face
with it in the work world. I function primarily as a clinician and
therapist, but I also serve as part of a research team, am a writer,
and have been an educator for the last 15 years. I wear these other
professional hats both out of personal interest and for additional
income. But for the most part, the majority of my income comes
from providing art therapy services. On the surface it sounds like
I am employed in a profession called art therapy, but on closer
look that is not completely true. In order to provide art therapy
services and make a living as a clinician, I am, by professional
title, a licensed clinical counselor. In my state of residence and
many other states, art therapist is not a specific profession list-
ed by the behavioral science board, business code, or any other
regulation. Even in states where art therapy is listed within a
code, regulation, or registry, art therapists may be employed to do
art therapy, but they may be doing so under other names and
2
titles besides strictly art therapist (Berkowitz &, Gussak, in
press). Like me, many art therapists have additional licenses and
certifications outside the field to give us the possibility of a high-
er salary, flexibility of employment, and more easily obtainable
third-party pay.
I dont believe that this is a particularly bad thing, but it does
bring up questions about the status of art therapy as a profession.
Art therapy has achieved licensure by name in only one state so
far (Licensed Professional Art Therapist in New Mexico; in sev-
eral other states art therapists with appropriate coursework and
degree titles may apply for licensure as professional or clinical
mental health counselors and, in California, as marriage and fam-
ily therapists). While there is a licensure specifically for art thera-
pists in New Mexico, art therapists in that state are still fighting
the battle for equivalency to other licensed masters level clinicians
and to obtain third-party pay. Some are optimistic that the LPAT
will be helpful in establishing a place for art therapy in health
care, firming up equivalency to its counterparts in counseling,
marriage and family therapy, and social work, and eventually
securing third-party pay for art therapists. Others are not so
hopeful, feeling that art therapy has very little chance of achiev-
ing meaningful parity and wishing in retrospect they had applied
for counseling licenses rather than the art therapy license.
In this issue three well-known art therapists David
Gussak, Cathy Moon, and Millie Lachman-Chapin present
their views and visions for art therapy as both a profession and an
idea. First, David Gussak observes that there is an invisible col-
lege of art therapists that create the profession, but that we still
have some distance to go before art therapy is truly a profession
in its own right. He notes that we naturally assume that because
art therapy is overseen by an organization that has bylaws, a mis-
sion statement, and defined ethical standards, that art therapy is
a profession. He concludes that art therapy is really a discipline
formed around ideas, and that art therapists comprise a group
that can be defined as professionals.
In Art Therapy, Profession or Idea? A Feminist Aesthetic
Perspective, Cathy Moon emphasizes valuing the multiplicity of
ideas inherent to the nature of art therapy. Using a feminist per-
spective, she highlights the ideas behind professionalism in art
therapy: flexibility, creativity, relationship, inclusivity, and artistic
sensibilities, among others. But she also cautions the field to be
aware of a dark side of professionalism, noting that art therapy
as a profession must question the potential pitfalls in its gate-
keeping function. Moon observes the small percentage of art
therapists of color, the effects of socioeconomic status, and the
 MALCHIODI
low number of males in the field. She also challenges us to look
at both overt and covert outcomes of education, registration, and
certification, recognizing that these structures not only protect
the public, but also are designed to protect economic and power
positions for art therapists, creating circumstances of competition
and cohesion.
In the final essay of this issue, Millie Lachman-Chapin
reflects on the relationship of the profession of art therapy in rela-
tion to the art world. She notes that as a profession we added
something, and, indeed, lost something. What we have added is
that we study and analyze the artwork in the framework of a
therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists knowledge about to heal
or help. What we lost was the simple focus on what it might
mean for the client to do something he considers beautiful.
She proposes that we reexamine the mantra of the profession,
that the process is more important than the product, and consid-
er what would happen if the product were equally as important
as the process. Lachman-Chapin believes that this simple para-
digm change would honor the clients desire for the beautiful,
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and enlarge our vision of both what the profession and idea of art
therapy could be.
3
I hope these essays stimulate you to think more articulately
about what art therapy is, how we define it through our invisible
college; how we can take a more feminist, aesthetic perspective of
the field; how our relationship to the art world can inform what
we do and create new possibilities for art therapists; and ulti-
mately how we can identify art therapys place in the professional
world and what steps could be taken to help it achieve parity with
other established health care professions. Most of all, I hope these
essays will expand the possibilities for art therapy, the idea to
prosper and be recognized.
References
Berkowitz, N., & Gussak, D. (in press). AATA qualitative report of pro-
fessional art therapists: Data compilation. AATA Newsletter.
Gussak, D. (1999). What are art therapists? Finding a place that makes
sense. Oral presentation at 30th Annual Conference of the American
Art Therapy Association, Orlando, FL, November.