Woops. Some email fumbles between accounts.

The email account, Expressive.Media@Gmail.com, should be working as planned now. There was a bit of a backlog in recent weeks. Sorry. None of the emails were not lost. But, the email was sitting in a que. That has now been fixed.

We're catching up. Sorry for the delay. It shouldn't occur again.

R.G. Ley: One cannot use a left hemispheric key to open a right hemispheric lock.

It is very difficult for patients to recover in psychotherapy when a pre-verbal or any traumatic memory is encoded in images, rather than in words. The same is true of our nightly thinking in dreams.

We experience [a dream] predominantly in visual images. Part of the difficulty of
giving an account of dreams is due to our having to translate these images into words. “I could draw it,” a dreamer often says to us, “but I don’t know how to say it.” SIGMUND FREUD

Art therapy has grown rapidly since it became a profession in the middle of the 20th century. One reason is that creating art is a way of thinking – in images, as well as with the hands. Art also offers a way of feeling and a way of knowing. In psychotherapy, which is usually done with words alone, art gives clients a new and useful way to listen – with their eyes.

WHEREVER THERE IS A SPARK OF HUMAN SPIRIT

-- no matter how dim it may be -- it is our sacred responsibility to fan it into whatever flame it conceivably may develop. VIKTOR LOWENFELD

In many ways, art therapy is a paradox . . . it is both extremely old and very young. Art for healing is as ancient as the drawings on the walls of caves, yet the discipline itself is still a youth in the family of mental health professions.

Similarly, art therapy is primal, while at the same time it is highly sophisticated--since making pictures appeals to a wide range of living creatures, from apes to artists.

Because art therapy is extremely versatile, it has many, many faces. Some are young, some are old; but all can use art as a second language, a way to cope with pain.

Art therapy is vital for those who are unable to speak, like people with aphasia or with elective mutism. At the same time, it is extremely helpful for those who are articulate, who use words easily to hide from their emotions.

Art in psychotherapy can help people to see what they are feeling and thinking.

content for Art Theraby Has Many Faces

1. The Sources of Art Therapy

The Origins and Roots of Art Therapy

2. Art Therapy

An Idea Whose Time Had Come

3. Art Therapy Has Many Faces

People of All Ages and Conditions

Art in the Presence of Another

Doing and Reflecting

4. The Art of Art Therapy

Setting the Stage

Evoking Expression

Facilitating Expression

Facilitating Reflection

5. Approaches to Art Therapy

Psychodynamic

Humanistic

Cognitive

Expressive Therapy

Family Art Therapy

Group Art Therapy

6. Art Therapy Has Grown

Development of the Field

Settings, Populations, Expansion

7. Why Has Art Therapy Grown So Fast?

Art Comes Naturally

It Engages the Whole Person

Safe Regression & Aggression

Art Can Express the Inexpressible

Art Helps to Heal Trauma

Background

Expressive Media, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to foster the growth of therapeutic art programs in both clinical and non-clinical settings-in order to assist those in pain, to enhance personal growth, to inspire creativity, and to benefit the wider community.

The goal is to extend the healing power of the arts to more human beings; and to help those who provide them to do so with sensitivity and respect. We are therefore creating films and other materials in order to educate students, professionals, and others on the therapeutic value of the arts.

The need to make the healing power of the arts available to all people in pain is more urgent than ever. The arts offer a universal language with which to find and articulate a person's authentic Self. The arts also allow us to speak to others and to hear their responses, regardless of cultural difference or geographical distance.

DVD cover art - MR version 1

The cover art for both the DVD and VHS is on this web site: http://65.254.51.42/~player/content/expressive-media/ Same too for the DVD and VHS inserts.

Film night at University of Pittsburgh

An audience of 160 gathered on October 13, 2004, on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh to see the screening of the newest film from Dr. Rubin, Art Therapy Has Many Faces.

Admission was $25. A pannel of experts and discussion was held before and after the film.