Join us for AATA2026

Oct. 14 – 17, 2026

Charlotte, NC

Art Therapy in Stitches: Textile Repair as Relational and Sustainable Practice (SC12)

This All-Day Advanced Practice Course explores textile mending as a relational art therapy intervention grounded in care ethics and sustainable practice. Through hands-on stitching and clinical reflection, participants will examine repair as metaphor and method—supporting identity continuity, resilience, and resistance to disposability across the lifespan in both clinical and community settings.

Presenter: Kathryn Snyder

Making Worlds Through The Parable of the Snow Globe (SC148)

This All-Day Advanced Practice Course situates the creation of snow globes as an exercise in queer worldmaking—a culturally responsive, experiential practice for surviving contemporary crises. Through personal reflection and collective discussion, participants of all genders and sexualities will explore how world-shaking events necessitate creative responses for stewarding new worlds of justice into being.

Presenters: Sara Blevins-Ranes, Zachary Van Den Berg, Kachina Mooney, and Tamara Galinsky 

Where Color Refuses to Blend: Supporting QTBIPOC People in Art Therapy (DEI34)

When color refuses to blend, truth emerges. This Half-Day Advanced Practice Course calls therapists to disrupt sameness and center lived experience when supporting Queer and Trans Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Through visual processing and reflective dialogue, participants will explore how to deepen cultural humility and expand one’s therapeutic presence and practice.

Presenter: Michael Galarraga and Maqueita Eleazer

[Ethics] Rooted in Ethics & Rising Innovation – Research & Publication in Art Therapy (ET124)

This All-Day Advanced Practice Course will illuminate the steps to publication, explore areas of needed research, present resources available for support, while examining ethical use of AI and an antioppressive framework for conducting research. Artmaking prompts will invigorate practitioners, educators, and students to consider the various innovations in practice that have yet to be researched, published, and incorporated into art therapy profession.

Presenters: Kerry Kruk-Borisov, Emily Nolan, Theresa Van Lith, and Leara Glinzak

[Trauma] Attachment Repair & Individuation: A Relational Body-Based Approach to Healing Trauma (TR29)

This All-Day Advanced Practice Course introduces an innovative intervention that integrates somatic awareness, personal trauma narratives, and graphic storytelling, each contributing to individual healing and development. Designed for experienced clinicians, the program incorporates clinical illustrations, experiential activities, and group discussions to familiarize participants with the theoretical framework underlying a body-centered approach to therapeutic transformation.

Presenters: Paula Howie and Hugh Marr

[Trauma] Break the Lens of American Terror: Clinical Outreach Assessment Post Community Trauma (TR191)

Aiding a community in the aftermath of a child massacre, the presenter implemented crisis response days following Sandy Hook School tragedy. Learn how the Emerald Sketch models this, practice self-care, art therapy and tf-cbt protocols. Learn to immediately respond during traumatic community horrors.

Presenters: Nicole Porter Davis

[Trauma] The Clinical Practice of Using Clay in Addressing Attachment Trauma – Sensorimotor Approach (TR232)

This half-day advanced practice course will guide you through a sensorimotor and attachment-based framework using clay to address attachment trauma. Attendees will engage in an experiential process and learn how tactile, sensorimotor engagement with clay supports embodied awareness and a felt-sense of attachment repair. Brittany will share her step-by-step process, clinical considerations, and practical applications for trauma-informed settings.

Presenters: Brittany Johnson

[Professional Practice] Creating Mandalas through the Great Round: Deepening into Natural Cycles of Life (PP138)

Experience an engaging, expressive arts journey through history, theory, and strengths-based approaches to creating and understanding mandalas in and out of session. By creating a series of mandalas guided by the Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala, participants will also (re)connect with the cyclical rhythms of nature.

[Professional Practice] The Art of Private Practice: Developing an Inquisitive Mindset and Authentic Approach (PP106)

You can build a private practice that fits your unique life and focuses on authentically engaging with your community! We will combine foundational business skills with creativity, clarity around your vision, and cultivation of an inquisitive mindset so you can take steps toward starting a sustainable practice with confidence.

Presenter: Emery Mikel

[Professional Practice] Healing Connection: Art and Relational Cultural Therapy in Trauma-Informed Eating Disorder Care (PP33)

Experience trauma informed, relational, art-based approaches that transform eating disorder treatment. This advanced practice course will address and challenge assumptions, explore socio-cultural issues that often mask symptoms, and offer practical, evidence-based connection-focused strategies. Join us in art experientials to strengthen your clinical skills and enrich eating disorder care and relational connection and healing.

Presenters: Laura Rickles and Kasha Seltzer 

[Children/Adolescents (CA)] Exploring Your Inner Superhero: Using art and role play techniques with ADHD (CA206)

This Half-Day Advanced Practice Course will integrate art making and role play as a therapeutic intervention with children with ADHD. Participants will create a “power shield” and engage in a fun, expressive “battle” in a partnered experience, embodying superhero narratives. Such experiences will allow one to explore their strengths, build resilience, offer self-regulation and develop an empowering sense of self.

Presenter: Deborah Adler

[Medical Settings] The REPAT Intervention: An 8 Week Art Therapy Protocol (MS16)

This All-Day Advanced Practice Course trains therapists to deliver the REPAT, a well validated 8‑session, protocol that strengthens emotion awareness, acceptance, and expression to reduce depression, pain, and fatigue. Participants will learn the protocol and the theory and research behind its development.

Reviving the Legacy of Dr. Lucille Venture: Art, Reflection & Transformation (MP236)

This experiential opportunity 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.

Presenter: Charlotte Boston