Expressive Arts

Handing Painting at the 2024 Expressive Arts Retreat for Appalachian State Alumni and Friends at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, NC

Nature Mandala at the 2023 Expressive Arts Retreat for Appalachian State Alumni and Friends at Wildacres Retreat in Little Switzerland, NC

Collage from Workshop in Chapel Hill, NC

Expressive Arts Therapy is the practice of using storytelling, dance, music, drama, poetry, dreamwork, visual arts, and other artistic modalities in an integrated way to foster human growth, development, and healing. It is about reclaiming our innate capacity as human beings for the creative expression of our individual and collective human experience in artistic form. It is also about experiencing the natural capacity of creative expression and creative community for healing. Expressive Arts Therapy is different from other creative therapies such as Art Therapy or Music Therapy as it emphasizes the interdisciplinary use of multiple art modalities. 

(Description is from the Expressive Arts Therapy program at Appalachian State University)