News and Events

Art Therapy Helps 9/11 Sufferers Years Later, Exhibits Art Work on 10th Anniversary

Here’s a great story and upcoming exhibit that is another testament to the power of art therapy, and how the arts can benefit people in so many ways.

An art therapy school program in New York is having an upcoming exhibit entitled 9/11 Arts: A Decade Later. Continue reading »

Art Therapy Helps Man With Severe Disability

This is truly one of the most amazing and inspiring stories we’ve ever read. The following is a testament to the power of art, the creative process, and how therapeutic creating art can be, even for the most physically challenged.

Armando “Mandi” Saltiel was born with a severe form of polymicrogyria (abnormal development of the brain before birth) that restricted his ability to communicate via eye movements. There are additional complications that can occur, including weak muscles, respiratory issues, and even difficulty breathing. His parents became afraid that “Mandi” was going to give up and withdraw even more from the rest of the world. Continue reading »

Call For Artists: Expressions of Hope Calendar for Cancer Care by ASCO

For those who may be interested, we received information about a Call for Artists from someone at the American Cancer Society of Clinical Oncology. Also, there is no fee to submit artwork!

I work at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), a non-profit organization representing physicians who care for people with cancer. I would like to inform you that ASCO is currently seeking artwork submissions for our annual Expressions of Hope wall calendar. Cancer has a profound effect on all the lives it touches, and we invite anyone who has been affected by cancer – patients, friends, families, caregivers – to share their emotions through art and inspire hope in others.

More information can be found below or by clicking here. To complete your official entry, you must also submit the artwork submission form (PDF). Continue reading »

International Women’s Day – Do Something Special

Today is the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day and we wanted to take a moment to remind everyone to do something special for at least 1 important lady in your life, if not more! Keeping with our credo of “inspiring others to create,” we suggest creating something for that special lady. You could create a poster by drawing, painting, collage, etc. You could also do some creative writing via a short story, poem, or prose.

Don’t have time for that? Well, shame on you, but it’s okay. At least go out and get her some flowers, a card, and/or a small gift of some sort that she would appreciate.

Remember, this is an actual official holiday in many countries around the world! Continue reading »

Haiti Art Therapy Project: Art Therapists Needed

Attention Art Therapists: Mercy Corps is looking for experienced Art Therapists to help The Haiti Youth Program. The Haiti Youth Program uses training and social revitalization activities to promote healing and resiliency. The Mercy Corps Art Therapy project will use art therapy to support children and youth to recover from the trauma of disaster. The following is a very brief summary of the job. Please read the full job description for more information and details. You can also find more jobs here. Continue reading »

Saudi Arabia’s Art Therapy, Rehab Program For Terrorists, Jihadists

*Update 12/31: ABC News has updated their story about the terrorists released from Gitmo that attended an art therapy program in Saudi Arabia. They originally reported that 2 terrorists from the Saudi art therapy program were involved, but have since redacted their statement and are now saying it was just 1 from the program that was involved in the attacks on Christmas Day. We want to make sure we call out ABC for their continued poor reporting. Their statement is below.

ABCNews.com reported Monday in error that former Guantanamo prisoner #333, Muhamad Attik al-Harbi, was one of four leaders of the al Qaeda group that claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.

Al-Harbi, who now goes by the name Muhamad al-Awfi, turned himself in to the Saudi government in Februrary 2009 and therefore could not have played a direct role in organizing the attempt to bring down Northwest flight 253.

Al-Harbi appeared in a propaganda tape released by the group in January 2009. According to published reports, he surrendered to Saudi security forces one month later in February 2009, well before the August arrival in Yemen of accused underwear bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

We felt it was necessary to address some of the recent press surrounding art therapy and the failed terrorist attack on Christmas Day. It’s been a rough a few days for the art therapy world. Even the American Art Therapy Association has issued a public response, which we’ll let you judge on your own. Our response is more directed at ABC News’ poor coverage of art therapy and the jihad rehab program in Saudi Arabia. Continue reading »

Become Stress Free With New iPhone Apps

In a recent development that some might consider ironic, there are some new iPhone apps that will attempt to help you reduce stress. There are two new iPhone apps that have come out recently that are geared towards helping you have a stress free holidays. The first one we’ll discuss is a relatively basic one, and the second one is by the master of serenity himself, Deepak Chopra. Continue reading »

Art & Poetry Exhibition at UNICEF

The following is a press release provided by Dreamsakes and Art in All of Us that we are excited to share:

Children from 192 Countries Present Art & Poetry Exhibition at UNICEF

To celebrate international children’s rights & their freedom of expression, a five year epic art adventure brings together children’s mini-masterpieces from around the world.

Art in All of Us (AiA) is proud to present a children’s art exhibition from November 3rd until December 31st 2009 to mark the 20th anniversary of the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child) at the DKVC Center at UNICEF headquarters in New York. Mrs. Ann Veneman, Executive Director of UNICEF will open the exhibition.

For each one of the 192 countries, the lives of children are being represented through the artwork gathered by AiA – their realities, their dreams, their ambitions, and their voices are being expressed. After five years, 192 countries, 300 schools, and the participation of 18,400 children, this representation of the world through the eyes of children is a unique project, unmatched in it’s originality and successful representation of every UN-listed nation. Continue reading »

Hearts for Anna – Artist Battling Breast Cancer Needs Your Help

We were recently informed of a tragic story about an artist named Anna Millea. She is fighting breast cancer…again. We learned that it is very aggressive and has made it into her bones, where she will require 16 rounds of chemo. And if that wasn’t bad enough, she doesn’t have insurance because the insurance companies have decided she is uninsurable due to her having cancer before!

Artful Home is doing something wonderful and trying to help Anna through her tragic situation. They are asking for you to contribute some of your time and talent. They will be holding an online event for 5 days where they will sell miniature artworks submitted by other artists. The special online event will be from August 12-16, 2009.

You can help by donating artwork to be sold…or by buying some of the artwork during the online event. The deadline for submissions is today unfortunately (sorry, we just learned about this!). But obviously there will be time to buy some art. 100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to Anna to help pay for her medical bills. You can also check out a gallery of current submissions here.

You can learn more about Anna, details of the event, and how you can help: www.artfulhome.com/heartsforanna. We encourage you to help support Anna if you can, even if that is just by spreading the word, leaving a supportive comment, or just sending good vibes and wishes her way.

Thanks to Vanessa for sending this along to The Art Therapy Blog. If you’d like to contact her with any questions, she can be reached at: vsmolenski@artfulhome.com

Art Therapy Helps Meningitis Sufferers Thanks to UK Charity

A recent press release from the Meningitis Trust, a meningitis charity located in the United Kingdom (UK), describes a new free art therapy service that is available nationwide for young adults and children affected by meningitis. The following is from the Meningitis press release and reveals more about the free service: Continue reading »