Expressive arts is a low skill, high sensitivity approach to using arts in therapy, coaching, education, social activism and more. There are several institutions that provide training in this discipline. Here I compare and contrast two major institutions, the Appalachian State University and the European Graduate School.

Both European Graduate School and Appalachian State University teams believe client as the expert of their own situation (Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, 2003; Eberhart & Atkins, 2014; Knill, Barba, & Fuchs, 2003; Knill, E. Levine, & S. Levine, 2005; E. Levine, 2015). The main idea is to use expressive arts to tap into clients’ own resources to help with their own situations. Instead of a single mode of art (e.g., dance therapy, music therapy, etc.), expressive arts therapy uses intermodal approach with low skills, high sensitivity methods. The expressive arts therapy discipline came out of the criticism of the traditional European disease model of mental health and reductionism (Knill, Barba, & Fuchs, 2003; Knill, E. Levine, & S. Levine, 2005; E. Levine, 2015). Unlike traditional art therapy, expressive art therapist does not use client’s artwork for psychoanalysis (E. Levine, 2015). The process of art making brings the client into a liminal space and is much more important for the therapeutic process than the art product itself (Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, 2003; Eberhart & Atkins, 2014; Knill, Barba, & Fuchs, 2003; Knill, E. Levine, & S. Levine, 2005; E. Levine, 2015).

The European Graduate School team uses the following approach in expressive arts therapy (Knill, Barba, & Fuchs, 2003; Knill, E. Levine & S. Levine, 2005; E. Levine, 2015):

1. The filling-in phase: The therapist talks with the client to learn their situation.
2. Decentering with art and/or play: The client engages in art-making or play without direct connection to their situation. The goal of decentering is to intentionally move away from the problem and enter the imaginative, creative space.
3. Aesthetic analysis: Client describes the process of art-making, the product, emotions, obstacles and how the client overcame them. Client gives a title to the work and identifies its message.
4. Harvesting: The client applies the message and what they learned about their own resources to their present problem.

These steps are also used for arts-based research (E. Levine, 2015).

The Appalachian State University team uses a broader range of strategies than the European Graduate School group. Snyder (personal communication in the Therapy and Expressive Art class), for example, developed the GRACE model in which client actually immerse in their situation using arts. Tapping into the wisdom of dreams, using nature-based approach, incorporating healing practices like breath work, and describing the expressive arts therapy as a spiritual practice appear to be unique to the Appalachian State University group (Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective, 2003; Eberhart & Atkins, 2014). Because Sally Atkins now teaches at the European Graduate School, I suspect that these differences may diminish over time. I have yet to see any art-based research by the Appalachian State University researchers.

The European Graduate School group uses expressive arts therapy strategies for both clinical mental health and communities experiencing social change (E. Levine & S. Levine, 2011) while the Appalachian State University team primarily focuses on clinical mental health.

One thing I noticed was that the Appalachian State University authors use much simpler language than some of the authors at the European Graduate School, despite their criticism of traditional European approach, whose writings are reminiscent of traditional European academic institutions.

Reference

Appalachian Expressive Arts Collective (2003). Expressive arts therapy: Creative process in art and life. S. Sharp (Ed.). Boone, NC: Parkway Publishers, Inc.

Eberhart, H. & Atkins, S. (2014). Presence and process in expressive arts work: At the edge of wonder. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Knill, P. J., Barba, H. N. & Fuchs, M. N. (2003). Minstrels of soul (2nd ed.). Toronto, ON: E.G.S. Press.

Knill, P. J., Levine, E. G. & Levine, S. K. (2005). Principles and practice of expressive arts therapy: Towar a therapeutic aesthetics. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Levine, E. G. (2015). Play and art in child psychotherapy: An expressive arts therapy approach. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Levine, E. G. & Levine, S. K. (Eds.). (2011). Art in action: Expressive arts therapy and social change. Philadelphia, PA: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.