Sample 
ART 
THERAPY 
CURRICULUM  

~ Girl Scout Gold Award ~

By: Georgia Burkard

What is Art Therapy? 
As phrased by the American Art Therapy Association, art therapy is “an integrative 
mental health and human services profession that enriches the lives of individuals, 
families, and communities, through active art-making, creative process, applied 
psychological theory, and human experience within a psychotherapeutic relationship.” 1​​ In 
simpler terms, it is using art to help unlock things about ourselves with the ultimate goals 
of fostering self-esteem and self-awareness, promoting insight, and distressing. Often 
times, art therapy is implemented as an alternative form of communication-- a nonverbal 
one. Art therapy is practiced by trained professionals, known as art therapists, who may 
apply their practice in places like hospitals, schools, and private practices. 
 
Art Education vs. Art Therapy 
In a typical art class in school, the goal is to develop knowledge, skills, and attitudes about 
art, often with a focus on what students ultimately create. While this still provides a 
creative outlet, the emphasis in general art education doesn’t necessarily promote internal 
growth. Alternatively, art therapy is treatment. There is an emphasis on the process of 
creation and the artist who is creating that art.  
 
Art Therapy in Schools 
For children especially, having a positive way of expressing oneself is essential to early 
development. Schools are now recognizing the need for art as an alternative to verbal 
communication and different programs and people are being established to promote such.   
The act of creating art has a therapeutic effect and can be further “used to help address 
personal factors that may be impeding a student’s learning, performance, and general 
functioning.” 2​ ​While many schools have an art education, there are not many programs for 
special education directly using an art therapy based model. To that extent though, if the 
preexisting art classes implement therapeutic techniques and alter the emphasis to be 
more process driven, the effect would be enormous for widespread child development.  
 
Tips for ​incorporating art therapy-based projects into your curriculum: 
1. Focus on the process rather than the outcome. 
2. Encourage students to explore different mediums and outlets within art. 
3. Emphasize art as a positive outlet in and out of the classroom. 
 Let Your Inner-Animal Out 
 

Project description  Draw yourself as an animal. Use any medium to create a 

combination of human and animal like characteristics. The 
animal should be representative of you (whether it be with 
similar traits or simply be your favorite animal). Don’t be afraid 
even use multiple animals. 

Materials  Collage materials 

- Colored paper  
- Markers, crayons  
Mask materials  
- Paper mache 
- Paint  
- (beads, feathers)  

Therapeutic/  Many times, children are able to show things about themselves 
expressionary value  more easily by describing themselves through indirect means. 
This can mean comparing themselves to other people or things 
(animals) or creating an alter ego. Creating yourself as an animal 
eliminates some of the pressure of directing depicting body 
image while also recognizing that animals are often easier for 
children to draw than people.  

 
 
   
   
 Emotion Color Wheel 
 
 

Project description  Draw a large circle and divide into “pizza slices”. On each piece, 
illustrate an emotion using colors and pictures. 

Materials  - Markers , crayons, pencils 

- Circle template 
- Rulers  
- Brass fastener  

Therapeutic/  An emotion color wheel can help to visually group feelings. By 
expressionary value  associating colors, words, and pictures all within one art 
project, it enables the students to think about each emotion 
that they can feel in greater extent without necessarily having 
them further connect it to specific situations. Simply talking 
about emotions enables greater understanding of them. 

Notes:  Project is more appropriate for younger children  

 
       
    
   
 Scribble Drawing 
 

Project description  The teacher should draw a random squiggle in the middle of a 
blank piece of paper. Have the student use their imagination to 
incorporate the squiggle into a drawing.  

Materials  - White printer paper  

- Drawing utensils (markers, crayons, colored pencils) 

Therapeutic/  This project is really quick and open ended, thus encouraging 
expressionary value  the students to think spontaneously and with a wild imagination. 
The project is very stress-free so they can do this just to 
warm up and get their mind going. 

Notes:  Recommended to use as a warm-up/ class opener  

 
   
 Mandalas 
 

Project description  Draw a circle in the center of a square piece of paper and draw 
layers of different patterns around it, slowly building out to 
the edge of the paper. It should generally be concentric circles 
with each part being a different repeating pattern and color.   

Materials  - Paper  
- Drawing utensils (markers, pens, colored pencils, 
crayons) 

Therapeutic/  Drawing and coloring a mandala can be a highly enriching 

expressionary value  personal experience in which you look inside yourself and find 
the shapes, colors and patterns to represent anything from 
your current state of mind to your most deeply-desired wish 
for yourself, for a loved one, or for humanity. 
You can design a mandala to symbolize a state of mind that you 
would like to achieve. Mandalas are great tools for meditation 
and increasing self-awareness. Many different cultures around 
the world use mandalas in their spiritual practices. 
The best thing about designing your own mandals is that you 
have the freedom to choose whatever shapes and colors that 
you feel express your sense of self and your view of reality. 
Your mandala is yours, and you have the freedom to use your 
creativity to create a mandala drawing that is uniquely you. 
Once you know the basic steps of how to draw a mandala, you 
can try now new designs and new colors each time you draw a 
new mandala. 

Notes:  For a younger group of students, there are mandala coloring 

pages, where they can still benefit from the therapeutic aspect 
of coloring. 

   
 
   
 Zentangles 
 
 

Project description  A Zentangle drawing is an abstract drawing created using 

repetitive patterns-- almost like a complex doodling strategy. 
Start by drawing lines from one side of the paper to another, 
making sure that they cross over. Make about 8 lines. In each 
of the spaces it creates, draw a pattern.  

Materials  - Paper 
- Pen/pencil 
- Optional: ruler 

Therapeutic/  Firstly, repetitive creative work, in and of itself, can be calming 

expressionary value  and self-soothing. It’s also simple-- zentangle art only requires 
a black pen and paper so you can do it just about anywhere. 
Lastly, using a pen on paper requires that you risk making 
mistakes; in fact, most tangle art has at least some misplaced 
lines which cannot be erased. Tangling teaches you how to 
incorporate what seem like “mistakes” into the overall pattern 
of the design.  

Notes:  For a more complex zentangle, start with the outline of a 

relatively simple object and do the patterns inside each of the 
different spaces it creates.  

 
 
 
 
  
   
 If I were a superhero… 
 

Project description  Have the students draw themselves as superheros. Each thing 
that they draw should represent an ability that would want to 
have if they could (i.e. flying, super strength). They can 

Materials  - Paper  
- Drawing utensils  

Therapeutic/  The goal is to help students stretch their imagination by 

expressionary value  identify certain abilities that they would want in an alternate 
world. While some of these abilities may have no reason beyond 
seeming “cool,” others that students choose may have deeper 
meanings. For example, some wishing for the power to be 
invisible may want to escape from the negative attention that 
they feel. It is also supposed to inspire the students to be a 
little bit more like the magical Superhero-like version of 
themselves in everyday life, both for themselves and the people 
around them.  

Notes:  For particular students who feel connected to a particular 

superhero or fictional character, research “superhero therapy.” 

 
 
   
 
 CITATIONS
1​
About art therapy. (2017, June). Retrieved November 7, 2017, from American Art
Therapy Association website: https://arttherapy.org/about-art-therapy/
2​
​About art therapy and schools​. (n.d.). Retrieved November 7, 2017, from UCLA
Center for Mental Health in Schools website: http://smhp.psych.ucla.edu/
pdfdocs/arttherapy.pdf
Gain Important Education Outcomes: Implement a Successful Art Therapy Program
​within K-12 Schools​. (2011). Retrieved November 13, 2017, from American Art
Therapy Association website: http://www.americanarttherapyassociation.org/
upload/toolkitarttherapyinschools.pdf