Why is art expressive

Expressive Arts is a discipline of helping and healing that uses the arts as its basis for discovery and change. You do not need to be an artist, processes are simple and no previous art background is needed.

Simple low skill art making in these different areas visual art, music, movement, writing and drama help open the senses and access our imagination so we can find our own resources that we hold within ourselves and that our art brings to us.

The arts have been an integral part of life for humans throughout history. Whereas traditional single modality arts-based approaches, such as dance therapy, music therapy, drama therapy, art therapy and poetry therapy emphasize the particular modality, expressive arts therapy integrates and embraces all the modalities, sometimes layering several art modalities in one session. The emphasis is on the healing power of the artistic experience itself, the human capacity to give shape and form to thoughts, emotions and life experience.

The expressive arts philosophy and way of working integrate well with many approaches. However, simply using expressive art activities such as having a client move or draw does not constitute expressive arts therapy. Our inspiration and model for creativity lies in our connection with the cycles of nature, the seasons of the day, the month, the year, the human life. We create as we are created in a matrix of interconnectedness with all of life. We are participatory in a creative universe.

What are the differences between the certificate and concentration in the Appalachian State University's Expressive Arts Therapy program? Expressive Arts Therapy Concentration. Expressive Arts Therapy Certificate. The completion of the Expressive Arts Therapy certificate will depend on the student's usage of time, schedule management, and the availability of courses.

All of our classes have an experiential component that must be completed as part of the assigned classwork. All classes are offered weekly on campus.

You need to be enrolled in a Master's Degree, at Appalachian State University, within one of the helping fields counseling, school counseling, social work, etc.

Click here for specific questions about Admissions. Students are strongly encouraged to experience expressive arts therapy in order to better understand the impact on the client.

Spontaneous art lives at the threshold, while the expressive arts experience EXA enlivens what lives at the margins of our experience.

EXA stimulates the prime language of the imagination. Images may be fearless, awe-inspiring or mundane. We can invite these images in, pay attention and tend to them while asking what else they need from us and what they bring that we need to know.

We help you do this by approaching each image with respect, asking what it needs, allowing the artist to take the lead.

When we feel that the image has been explored, we spend time reflecting on what happened during the art making and how it might inform our lives in the present.