“Mount Mary College provides an education that will give you both wings and roots. Graduates have a strong foundation —what they know, they know well. Where they go and how they use that foundation is limitless.”

– Catherine Ellenbecker, Class of 1973

Art Therapy Undergraduate Program

Mount Mary College art therapy students explore the “boundless world of imagination” by expanding their understanding of self, art, and humanity. Using art, movement, and poetic response, coupled with art therapy literature and one-on-one faculty attention, the art therapy program provides a solid foundation for further graduate study in art therapy or other helping professions.

This rewarding profession draws on knowledge about human development and psychology to help people heal and grow. Art therapists have the opportunity to enrich the lives of people with physical, emotional, social and spiritual challenges. Art therapy combines the power of creative spark and caring spirit to make a positive impact on the world.

The undergraduate art therapy program at Mount Mary is a pre-professional program that introduces the expanding field of art therapy. Built on a solid foundation of studio art and psychology, the program offers the opportunity to learn and grow in a creative, supportive environment. Through faculty supervised community service, and volunteer opportunities, you will realize the healing potential of creative action.

This new emphasis on community arts is on the cutting edge of art movements and new approaches to art therapy. Mount Mary's definition of community arts includes art for social change (activist art that intends to cure social ills), public art (art installed outdoors that intersects with daily community life) and public arts policy (from arts funding to political involvement.) Grounded in relationships developed with art, the self, and the community, the student develops her creativity in service of therapeutic and compassionate action.

By working together with artist-activities and therapists, students learn what it means to participate in our multicultural, global world through such opportunities as community-based field experiences, study abroad, and self-directed senior capstone projects.

The art therapy major with an emphasis in community arts fulfills all the prerequisite requirements for graduate study of professional art therapy. In the senior year students may be eligible for early entry into the graduate art therapy program. Mount Mary's Art Therapy Programs are nationally recognized for their quality and leadership in art-based art therapy education.

See the curriculum for the undergraduate art therapy program.

Learn more about the art therapy profession through resources provided by the American Art Therapy Association (AATA)-

• Fact sheet about art therapy and AATA
• FAQ about Art Therapy
• Allied Health Profession - Art Therapist
• Art Therapist Among 10 Hot Jobs for 2007