AATA2026 Sessions that are NBCC-Eligible for Continuing Education

Updated Aug. 18, 2026

Education Sessions Eligible for NBCC Continuing Education Clock Hours

Sessions that present information on therapeutic best practices, case studies, and art therapy techniques and methods. Includes Addictions/Substance Abuse (AS), Child/Adolescents (CA), Forensics (FS), Geriatrics (GE), Medical Settings (MS), Psychiatric Settings (PS), and School Settings (SS).

Art Therapy Neuroscience Suggests Help for Addiction and Trauma (AS62)

Art therapy offers people with addiction much that may promote long term sobriety. It individualizes and increases engagement in treatment for the heterogeneous individuals in addiction treatment, including those with neurological and emotional trauma. Brain areas impacted by addiction and trauma overlap with those that art therapy affects. Increasing self-understanding by treating prior trauma brings self-investment leading to enduring recovery.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Exploring Intersections of Art and Play Therapy for Neurodivergent Children (CA234)

This session explores neuro-affirming art and play therapy interventions for therapists. Participants will learn how these modalities support non-verbal expression, safe emotional release, and developmental growth. We will distinguish between methodological approaches to support the unique needs of this population and discuss how combining these models enhances clinical outcomes.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Bridging Regulation and Readiness: The Role of Art Therapy in Pediatric Oncology (MS70)

Pediatric patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) often face emotional and functional barriers that limit participation in
rehabilitation. This Paper explores art therapy integrated prior to physical therapy (PT) during inpatient treatment. Mixed-methods findings highlight how
the art therapy process may support emotional regulation and readiness for engagement in rehabilitation during pediatric HCT.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Sessions that present information in Activism (AC), Grief/Mourning (GM), Autism (AU), Professional Practice (PP), Trauma (TR), and Ethics (ET)

When Legacy Work Hurts: Timing and Considerations for Hospital End-of-Life Memorial Art (GM209)

In this presentation, we will examine several powerful examples of how legacy work caused harm in a pediatric hospital setting at the end of life. We will use these examples to better understand and reduce potential risks and harm during
an arts-based legacy-making session.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Negotiating Loss and Meaning Through Objects: A Phenomenological Study of Women Living with Breast Cancer (GM114)

This presentation explores breast cancer-related non-death loss and meaning-making through interviews centered on personally selected objects. Guided by hermeneutic phenomenology, four women who had undergone breast cancer treatment reflected on their lived experiences through their relationships with these objects. The presentation examines the complex and ongoing nature of loss associated with breast cancer, the role of objects as relational and material mediators within object focused interviews, and the ways participants negotiated and reconstructed meaning over time. This presentation invites therapists to consider how everyday objects can help clients articulate complex experiences of loss and support the ongoing reconstruction of meaning after illness related loss.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Autoethnographic Poem Making After Fire Disaster (GM216)

This presentation examines the use of autoethnographic ekphrasis as an arts-based therapeutic approach for processing both individual and collective trauma following a fire disaster in Los Angeles. We examine ways to use poetry in response to imagery to facilitate healing, foster resilience, and reconstruct a sense of belonging in the aftermath of a disaster.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

For Those Who Care: Innovative Strategies for Individual, Community, and Systemic Wellbeing (PP71)

Instead of defining what self-care is, this panel will highlight innovative approaches to sustainable self-care. Through collaborative dialogue, the panelists will reframe self-care and explore it as a process that begins within ourselves (rooting), extends to communities (rising), and ultimately influences the systems we engage with (flourishing).

Panel Presentation | 1.5 CE clock hour

Trauma Processing as a Heroic Journey: Analysis of Handsewn Story Cloths (TR184)

This panel presents a conceptual framework of trauma recovery reimagined as a heroic journey. A review of textiles as a therapeutic modality, and analysis and findings of story cloths from Common Threads Project will be shared. The slow stitch practice and implications for the story cloth process and heroic journey of trauma recovery in clinical practice will be discussed.

Panel Presentation | 1.5 CE clock hour

Images of the Therapist’s Self in Art-Based Supervision (ES152)

This Paper presents a depth-informed model of art-based supervision integrating Internal Family Systems and Jungian theory to support therapist self-awareness, symbolic literacy, and cultural reflexivity. Through contemporary supervision literature and reflexive clinical illustration, attendees will examine how image-making can strengthen professional identity, countertransference awareness, and authentic therapeutic presence.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Greater than the Sum of our Parts: Collaging Identity (ES69)

While identity—professional and personal—has been widely explored, its conceptualization remains elusive. As it becomes increasingly politicized, examining its origins, maintenance, biases, and interactional dynamics is critical. These presenters offer perspectives on the natural and metaphorical collaging of identity development, formation and transformation, and why its examination remains essential.

Panel Presentation | 1.5 CE clock hour

Unpacking Harm’s Touch: The Opportunity of What We Witness (ES60)

Harm’s touch describes the effects of what we witness on the therapist. (Fish, 2017, 2023). Response art offers a strategy for processing what we witness. Once we discern the value, we can take responsibility to act. Finding meaning that supports social justice can help us find resolution for harm’s touch.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Addressing Supervisees Wounds: Application of the Trauma Informed Supervision Model (ES56)

Supervisors must be aware of the type and impact of personal and professional wounds experienced by supervisees and use trauma informed approaches. Through review of the research, illustration of case examples, and dissemination of resources attendees will receive information and tools to best serve the needs of supervisees who have been impacted by personal and professional wounds.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Supervision within Psychotherapy Disciplines (ES57)

In art therapy, the construction and attunement of the therapeutic container is an essential component of our profession. By incorporating a modality that aims to physically and conceptually construct therapeutic spaces, the result could provide clients with the means to alter their own personal spaces into ones that directly address and ease their psychological symptoms.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Rooting Art Therapy Education in Self-Compassion: Overturning Over-Identification (ES225)

Over-identification is an under-examined challenge in art therapy education and supervision, affecting educator well-being, boundaries, and ethical practice.
This presentation shares findings from a preliminary study of a brief, arts-informed self-compassion workshop for clinical educators. Results highlight
a significant reduction in over-identification and point to self-compassion as a promising, ACATE-aligned resource for teaching, supervision, and leadership
cultures of care.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Supervision Through the Expressive Therapies Continuum: An Art-Based Approach (ES52)

Through interactive role play, this panel of professional art therapists will share the multi-faceted ways in which the Expressive Therapies Continuum can be used as a framework for supervision. It will demonstrate the various stages where art is a vital source of knowledge in supervision, enriching self-inquiry, self-expression, and collaboration.

Panel Presentation | 1.5 CE clock hours

Examining Doodling’s Impact on Emotion and Cognition: A Neuroimaging (fNIRS) Study (RE141)

This presentation will describe findings from a research study on the impact of doodling, note-taking, and listening on cognitive performance, neurological activity, and psychosocial outcomes using neuroimaging (fNIRS) technology and self-report data. Presenters will outline previous research on doodling, findings from their study, and implications for clinical and educational art therapy settings.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Stories that Veterans Tell in their Vision Boards (RE188)

For many veterans, the early years of transitioning to civilian life pose significant challenges. As more new veterans decide to return to classrooms and re-navigate careers, this pilot study aims to gain insight into how we can use art to communicate, counter transition-related stress and anxiety, and support veterans in a smooth transition to the next chapter of their lives.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

The Metaphor Project: Metaphors as Evidence in Art Therapy (RE84)

The purpose of this presentation is to report on the preliminary results of a research study to determine if metaphors can be used as an evidence base in art therapy. This project emerged as a result in our Art Therapy Research Strategic Plan determining a need to study forms of evidence in art therapy.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Art-Based Research, Response, and Recovery After Fire Disaster (RE215)

This presentation introduces PhotoStory Reflections, a participatory action research project using photovoice methodology to explore fire disaster
survivors’ recovery experiences. Drawing on participant-generated photographs and narratives, it examines key psychosocial impacts — including grief,
displacement, and identity disruption — while highlighting how structural conditions such as housing instability and systemic inequity shape recovery
trajectories.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Conceptualizing PID in Art Therapy Supervision with Post-graduate Art Therapists (RE72)

This presentation explores professional identity development in art therapy supervision with post-graduate, pre-licensed art therapists. Drawing from a qualitative study of supervisors’ perspectives, it explores how PID is conceptualized and supported in art therapy supervision. The presentation reviews a discipline-specific PID theory and proposes a process-of-change framework to inform intentional supervisory practices in art therapy supervision.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Creative Arts Therapies Reduce Anxiety in Hospitalized Adolescents with Eating Disorders (RE109)

This Paper presentation focuses on the impact of music and art therapy on the anxiety and hospital experience of adolescents undergoing medical stabilization for eating disorders. Attendees will learn about medical stabilization treatment, describe clinical and research uses of the Subjective Units of Distress Scale, and identify benefits of including creative arts therapies in medical stabilization treatment.

Paper Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Bibliotherapy and Art Therapy: The Power of Picture Books Across All Ages (SC134)

This presentation explores the intersection between bibliotherapy and art therapy, specially, how picture books can be combined with art-making for therapeutic purposes. Presenters will share their own picture books, discuss the mechanisms of bibliotherapy, and demonstrate how bibliotherapy can be used in art therapy practice with various populations.

Panel Presentation | 1.5 CE clock hours

Bridging Cultures Film: Immigrant Women Navigating Loss, Uncovering Wisdom, and Belonging (SC20)

This film illustrates the importance of art therapists offering virtual spaces for older adults. The film follows the evolution of an art therapy group running 100 sessions with facilitators bridging two continents, exploring themes of cultural displacement, loss, belonging and identity. The film reinforced the importance of creating accessible spaces for older adults and shares lessons learned from this experience.

Video Presentation | 1 CE clock hour

Updated August 18. 2026