AATA Blog
Featured Member: Nomita Advani
April 21, 2022
I find great meaning in my role in supporting the well-being and quality of life of my clients, while also learning so much from them. I am grateful for that. The bonus is to be able to engage with artmaking and expressive, visual language every day.
Featured Member: Virginia Bobro
April 7, 2022
Birth stories contain the full range of human experiences: resilience, trauma, persistence, triumph, creativity, confusion, grief, connection, and more. I’m becoming an art therapist to more deeply understand and utilize art as a way to work through and transform trauma, disconnection, and distress during the childbearing years.
Featured Member: Emily Allbery, MA, ATR-BC, LPC
March 24, 2022
Working with medically fragile children has definitely shaped who I am as a therapist and a person. I have learned so much from the resiliency of my patients, all of whom understand the meaning of life more than I can at two to three times their age.
Featured Member: Mercedes Ballbé ter Maat, Ph.D., LPC, ATR-BC, HLM
March 10, 2022
I graduated as an art therapist from George Washington University in 1986. Almost 36 years later, I am grateful for the colleagues and friends with whom I have walked this journey. This journey is like a gift that keeps on giving, bringing memorable experiences and opportunities to grow alongside those we hope to heal.
ACATE Council Positions Open July 1st for Two Educators and One Practitioner
February 17, 2022 | Ron Hunt, DDS, MS, Chair, Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education (ACATE)
The Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education (ACATE) is currently seeking applications and nominations for two (2) Educator and one (1) Practitioner positions that will become open on July 1, 2022. Please consider applying or nominating someone whom you believe will work tirelessly to promote best practices for art therapy educational programs and help ACATE lead the upcoming standards revisions process for the art therapy accreditation standards.
Featured Member: Leonard Gerald Lambert
February 24, 2022
Known as the “King of Process” by his friends, Leonard Lambert’s career in art therapy has been quite the journey. Leonard was among the first black male art therapy students to graduate from Pratt Institute. In 1979, he completed his thesis, Stonecarving: A Projective and Creative Modality for the Drug User, working with groups at a Substance Abuse facility. After working as an art therapist for behavioral health at Harlem Hospital and receiving his ATR board certificate, Leonard decided to switch career paths to practice social work. Ten years later, he was called back to art therapy. Now conducting art therapy through Zoom interactions, he is excited to connect with other male art therapists and explore the “percolating” ideas within him.
New Jersey is Now Licensing Art Therapists!
February 18, 2022 | Traci Bitondo LPAT, LPC, ATR-BC, ACS, ATCS, New Jersey Art Therapy Association Government Affairs Chairperson
It feels so good to finally report this with confidence: New Jersey is licensing Art Therapists! While that alone is worth celebrating, for New Jersey art therapists, this is particularly amazing given the unexpected, winding journey we took over the years to get here.
Three More Art Therapy Programs Receive Initial CAAHEP Accreditation!
February 17, 2022 | Ron Hunt, DDS, MS, Chair, Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education (ACATE)
CAAHEP awarded initial accreditations to the Art Therapy master’s programs at Caldwell University (New Jersey), Loyola Marymount University (California), and University of Louisville (Kentucky).
Black History in Art Therapy: A Living Reference & Resource Guide
February 10, 2022 | Compiled by Deanna Barton, MA, ATR-BC & Zachary D. Van Den Berg, MA, ATR-P, LPC-Associate Early Black History in Art Therapy Overview Boston, C., Doby-Copeland, C., & Short, G. (2001, November). Learning from our past: Honoring our...
In Honor of Black History Month: Centering Black Aesthetics in Art Therapy Past, Present & Future
February 10, 2022 | Deanna Barton, MA, ATR-BC & Zachary D. Van Den Berg, MA, ATR-P, LPC-Associate In February, we celebrate Black History Month by honoring the labors and contributions of Black art therapists towards their clients, the profession at large, and the...