Join Us for AATA2025

Oct. 8 – 11, 2025

Portland, Oregon

Loosen the Anxious Brain and Unlock Creativity: Embodied Art Therapy Without Brushes (SC42)

Explore embodied art therapy techniques to calm the anxious mind and unlock creativity. This experiential workshop introduces nature-inspired tools and the No Brushes Philosophy to promote emotional regulation, somatic awareness, and uninhibited self-expression. Attendees will gain practical, adaptable methods for integrating these approaches into diverse clinical and therapeutic settings.

The Art of Resilience: Strengthening Mind and Body Through Art and Fitness (SC31)

This workshop explores the connection between mental and physical health through art therapy and resilience-building strategies. Participants will engage in a collaborative art directive using fitness metaphors to foster creativity, teamwork, and personal growth, while exploring practical tools for reframing challenges and promoting holistic wellness in studio and community settings.

Presenter: Daniella Qureishi

Beauty in the Imperfections—Transforming Found Treasures into Something New and Meaningful (SC84)

In this workshop participants will learn how an artist transformed found treasures collected along walks into one-of-a-kind pieces of art. Participants will be invited to explore found objects, Wabi Sabi philosophy and learn how to explore the theme of imperfection in their own art and therapy practice.

Presenter: Abigail Oxford

Adaptability and Accessibility: Considerations in Art Therapy (DEI53)

Pediatric medical art therapists explore physical and mental health adaptations and accessibility considerations to ensure equitable access to art therapy. Needs explored include paralysis, physical deconditioning, pain, traumatic stress, life-altering experiences impacting development and identity. Tools explored include adaptive materials and devices, therapeutic container considerations, and adaptations to various directives.

Yes, and! Theatrical Improvisation for Art Therapy Based Peer Consultation (ES129)

Peer consultation is a resource for credentialed art therapists seeking mutual support. We will learn how the tenets of theatrical improvisation, or “improv,” align with a peer art therapy consultation group. Participants will learn practical applications of improv concepts through games, artmaking, and discussion.

Strengthening Feedback and Reflective Practice in Clinical Supervision (ES70)

This training empowers supervisors to enhance feedback skills, foster reflective practice with supervisees, and learn to deliver constructive, culturally sensitive feedback. Attendees will learn to help supervisees critically assess their work and integrate feedback effectively. Through experientials, attendees will refine their supervisory approach to support professional growth and ethical practice.

Reflections on Co-teaching Cultural Humility (ES194)

Through an exploration of co-facilitating cultural humility, participants will explore theoretical frameworks of co-facilitation, student development, cultural awareness models, and recommendations for addressing cultural humility in education and clinical spaces. Participants will engage in interactive experientials to demonstrate an understanding of concepts and identify effective
strategies for application.

[ACTIVISM] Addressing Gun Violence through Art & Activism (AC89)

This presentation engages participants in contributing to a national movement addressing gun violence, through witnessing, meaning making and creative visioning. Participants will apply art making, dialogue, and collective action toward social change. Trauma informed resources and Vision Quilt toolkit will be provided for implementing this program in your community.

[GRIEF & MOURNING] Acceptance: Art-Making at the Intersection of Grief/Recovery from Substance Use Dependence (GM33)

This is an empowering art therapy workshop where we will delve into the intersection of acceptance in the processing of grief and treatment of substance use dependence. Attendees will engage in guided art interventions that are designed to promote self-discovery and self-compassion and foster empowerment through the cultivation of acceptance.

[GRIEF & MOURNING] Badges of Love: Stitching as an Intervention for Grief-Work (GM60) – SOLD OUT

This workshop combines the use of stitching and personal textiles in grief-work. Participants will engage in an intervention aimed at meaning-making, the promotion of posttraumatic growth and the prevention of Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD). Attendees will complete the workshop with tools to take to their clients.

[GRIEF & MOURNING] Layers of Loss: Processing Grief Through Reflective Art Journaling (GM222)

This workshop explores visual journaling as a tool for grief processing and healing. Through guided journaling prompts and mixed-media techniques, participants will externalize emotions, create visual narratives, and explore symbolic representations of loss. The session provides creative strategies for integrating visual journaling into art therapy, grief counseling, and personal practice.

[PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE] Exploring the Actual and Symbolic Body Using Torsi in Art Therapy (PP9)

The workshop explores the body’s actual and symbolic aspects, focusing on body- and self-image and psychodynamic themes embedded in the torso. The workshop introduces the torso’s therapeutic potential, followed by a hands-on creative session using ready-made torso. Participants will share insights and explore clinical strategies for using torsi in AT.

[TRAUMA] Rekindling the Creative Spark: AI Art Therapy with Poetry for Trauma Recovery (TR99)

This workshop will present several methods to address emotional, cognitive, and somatic blocks resulting from trauma, using a fusion of therapeutic writing, artificial intelligence, and art therapy. Participants will have an experiential introduction to this integrative approach that helps clients bypass analytical thinking and experience more accessible, visual, intuitive healing.

[TRAUMA] Utilizing Creative Mindfulness Techniques to Build Resilience after Trauma Exposure (TR220)

This workshop will explore approaches to reduce the long term negative effects of activation of the human survival mechanism. We will explore the use of the Creative Mindfulness Techniques (CMT) for working with clients dealing with trauma exposure. It will examine approaches to utilize CMT through experiential learning.

[AUTISM] Art Therapy for ASD Students in Schools: Group Activities to Build Connections (AU12)

This workshop entails a deep dive into a book that outlines the evidence based benefit and impact of art therapy directives for students diagnosed with level one Autism Spectrum Disorder, as well as hands on practice of selected directives from the book.

[AUTISM] Paper, Strings, and Things: Found Object Work for Parents with Neurodiverse Children (AU168)

This workshop will allow hands-on engagement with found objects and non-traditional materials to explore the use of art making in dyadic art therapy with parents of children with neurodiverse conditions. Art making in this way creates room for play in parent-child interactions, fosters connections and enhances communication.

[AUTISM] Autistic Drawings: Solidifying Developmental Characteristics within The Autism Spectrum (AU202)

Individuals on the autism spectrum perceive the world differently than their neurotypical peers which involves their approach, visualization, and interpretation of their art. This presentation will showcase the distinction between autistic artwork and provide insight for neurodiverse-affirming art therapists to consider developing artistic drawing stages, especially for autistic artists.

[CHILD/ADOLESCENTS] Prioritizing Connection and Repair: Using Relational Art to Deepen Parent-Child Attachment (CA267)

This is an experiential workshop for art therapists working with children or teens and their caregivers/parents. Help clients build attachment, promote felt safety, and lean into warm, meaningful connection with trauma-informed, fun, relational and hierarchy-leveling art prompts that support everyone in being playful, present, and feeling seen and heard.

[CHILD/ADOLESCENTS] Exploring Arts-Based Supportive Programming for Children of Adult Cancer Patients (CA229)

Learn about the development and implementation of an arts-based program for kids and teens within an adult cancer wellness organization. Discuss and explore the different spaces and curriculum created to offer this population an intentional space for connection, expression and development of tools for coping.

[CHILD/ADOLESCENTS] The Play Of Art: Connecting Well With Children (CA116)

Explore how to create relationships with children, based on art and play. We’ll remember our own childhood play while learning some artful play that helps ease children into therapeutic connections. Art bridges childhood’s magical universes, and lived reality, in a way that helps us get to know our young clients.

[MEDICAL SETTINGS] Passport to Professional Identity: Discovering Your Medical Art Therapy Journey (MS78)

Navigating the medical world as an art therapist is an intense and rewarding challenge. This workshop will focus on enhancing professional identity and community through creating a passport of reflective art making, supportive resources and self-care strategies for professional growth. Meaningful discussion will explore both our common and unique experiences.

[ADDICTIONS/SUBSTANCE ABUSE] A Drop in the Ocean: An ACT Art Therapy Exercise (AS281)

This workshop will teach you about an exercise that can be used to help teach two essential ACT skills: Mindfulness and Cognitive Defusion. This exercise can be modified for each client’s needs as well as to assess a client’s relationship to their thoughts and art material engagement.

[ADDICTIONS/SUBSTANCE ABUSE] The Rattigan Reframing Technique® (2011) in Addiction and Recovery (AS221)

The Rattigan Reframing Technique (RRT) is a two-part creative destruction task involving art making and cognitive reframing. The client is assisted in developing positive coping techniques for stressful or overwhelming situations. The RRT also supports the safe expression, insight into conflict, instillation of hope, and empowerment through creative problem solving.

[PSYCHIATRIC SETTINGS] Fostering Self-Efficacy and Connection through Dual-Purpose Felt Art Directives (PS237)

How can art honor individuality while building connections? This hands-on workshop explores dual-purpose felt-based directives, where attendees create personal symbols as identified needs while contributing ‘negative space’ materials to a collective piece representing shared strength. Experience how this non-threatening yet profound process fosters self-efficacy, inner dialogue shifts, and shared belonging.

Building an Ar(t)chive of Queer Forms for Resistance & Resilience (MP25)

This workshop introduces ar(t)chive, a retroactivist art therapy technique for queer worldmaking. Participants will co-create an emergent ar(t)chive by engaging with queer historical forms, fostering resilience, affirming diverse identities, and building community. Attendees will learn its five phases and gain tools to apply this method in diverse therapeutic settings.

Presenter: Zachary Van Den Berg

Reviving the Legacy of Dr. Lucille Venture: Art, Reflection, and Transformation (MP261)

This experiential workshop explores The Black Beat in Art Therapy Experiences (1977) by Dr. Lucille Venture, the first Ph.D. dissertation in art therapy. Through artmaking and discussion, participants will engage with her overlooked contributions, fostering deeper reflection, clinical insight, and cultural awareness while reclaiming her place in art therapy history.

An Exploration of the Afro-Caribbean Art Therapy Approach (ACATA) (MP38)

This workshop introduces the Afro-Caribbean Art Therapy Approach (ACATA), a framework which integrates Afrocentric practices through immersive experiential activities. Participants will explore the influence of ancestry and culture on art therapy while fostering self-reflection and greater awareness in their therapeutic approaches.

Cultural Dialogue Between Mental Health, Identity, and Ancestral Beliefs (Diálogo Cultural Entre Salud Mental, Identidad y Creencias Ancestrales) (MP41)

Through corn husk doll-making, this workshop opens a cultural dialogue about mental health, identity, and ancestral beliefs. We explore how spiritual practices and cultural traditions influence understanding of identity and mental wellness.

Lineage Mapping through Eco Art Therapy: Career Counseling with Ancestral Narratives (MP28)

This workshop explores eco art therapy techniques for career counseling, focusing on inherited narratives of “good work.” Participants will create lineage maps to reflect on personal and intergenerational strengths, challenges, and values, examining cultural, familial, systemic, and ecological influences on professional identity. Journals and meaningful ancestral/ecological items are welcome.

Storying Statistics (RE59)

The purpose of this interactive workshop is to introduce participants to an innovative arts-based pedagogy for understanding quantitative research designs, measures, and statistical calculation. In this workshop we make research more accessible for art therapists by presenting ways of conceptualizing and conducting research that align with more familiar creative thinking.

Unveiling the Ineffable: Exploring Response Art in the context of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (TI248)

This 90-minute workshop explores response art’s role in ketamine-assisted psychotherapy (KAP). Through didactic instruction and experiential art-making, participants will learn how response art helps clients process ineffable psychedelic experiences, specifically within the context of KAP. A partnered activity combining breath work, guided imagery, and response art will support this learning.

Creatively Moving in, Moving Through, Moving Out: Navigating Life Transitions Successfully (TA81)

Career and life transitions may be expected or unexpected, joyful, or challenging. As art therapy participants experience transitions differently, it behooves art therapists to explore transitions in a nuanced way that will support fine-tuned creative explorations and treatment planning. Workshop participants will creatively explore transitions concepts originated by Schlossberg (1984).