Art Therapy is where psychology and creativity meet to help us help others. Through experiential, embodied learning and immersive clinical training, you’ll discover the curative nature of the creative process and the healing potential of art.
Bilateral art therapy uses both sides of the body.
Art Therapy at Pratt
Creative, aesthetic, and psychotherapeutic theory come together in everything we do. Artwork is done in every course and is used to learn a range of therapeutic skills. Experiential processes translate the theoretical framework into personal and practical application. You’ll focus on a variety of populations over the course of two years of clinical training.
The Experience
The MPS in Art Therapy and Creativity Development is a 60-credit program for students who want a diverse skill set, balanced with a strong theoretical framework. Interdisciplinary, socially engaged, and justice-driven, our Creative Arts Therapy community is connected by a shared mission for transformative change.
Low-Residency Format
The low-residency format is an innovative educational program based on a low-residency adult-learning model. The program is designed for those students who do not live near or are otherwise unable to engage in a traditional master’s degree format.
Students in the low-residency format are admitted for the spring semester only.
The cycle of classes is as follows: in March, the students take two, 3 credit classes over 9 days; in June they take two, 3 credit classes over 9 days of classes with a weekend break followed by three weeks of classes which run Monday–Friday. Students generally complete reading assignments before classes and then complete their papers after classes are over, giving them a chance to integrate class experience with readings and clinical training experience. Two years of clinical training are done from September through May following the first and second year of summer classes. Supervision is completed through weekly online contact, as well as an active online forum that keeps low-residency students consistently in touch with Pratt faculty and one another. Housing is available on campus. The low-residency program is not considered full-time. Therefore, international students will be ineligible for F–1 visas.
Internships
We believe creative and clinical practices are best developed together, each informing and improving the other. Internships are a vital part of the hallmark experiential learning process. Much of the coursework draws directly from clinical experiences and processing of client material. Students complete internship experiences in an array of site placements, including inpatient hospitals, community mental health agencies, and school-based settings, among others.
The mission of the Creative Arts Therapy Department at Pratt Institute is to provide the highest level of clinical training in art and dance/movement therapy, preparing graduates to work effectively with people from diverse communities. Our unique teaching philosophy is based on a combination of personal experience, didactic learning, and practical application, and is rooted in the primacy of creative process and psychodynamic theory. We offer an integration of historical perspectives and current andragogy, leading to applications of practice in a variety of settings. The program combines the power of non-verbal communication, artistic process, and embodied creative action. Our students develop self-awareness and recognition of their unique attributes through experiential learning. They acquire an increased sense of self and resiliency, which is translated to their work as creative arts therapists.
Students will be able to identify and utilize their own internal processes in service of therapeutic interventions.
Students will comprehend and apply creative and aesthetic processes in the context of creative arts therapy theory and practice.
Students will be able to establish a therapeutic relationship using imagery, movement, symbolization, and verbalization; and recognize shifts within that developing relationship.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of psychodynamic theory within the context of creative arts therapy practice in the service of diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing evaluation.
Students will be able to articulate clinical theory and applied practice through writing, research, oral presentation, and professional advocacy across broad interdisciplinary communities.
Students will be able to apply ethical and professional codes of practice as they apply to clinical practices, communities, and self.
Students will be able to understand the intersectionality of power, privilege, and oppression as they apply to clinical practices, communities and self.
Our Faculty
Alongside their teaching roles, our faculty are accomplished artists who integrate creative and clinical practices every day in their work. See all Creative Arts Therapy faculty and administrators.
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.
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Charlotte Böhning, MID ’23, is this year’s US winner of the @JamesDysonAward for her graduate thesis project, the Gutsy port!
Current Ostomy bags are mostly single-use and disposable, and the design hasn’t been updated for 70 years. Ostomates go through an excess of bags (and expenses). Current pouches are also one-size-fits all and must be “cut-to-form,” often fitting poorly and leaking, while users also have little autonomy over when their stoma releases waste into the pouch.
The Gutsy port is custom fitted to each stoma, acting as an artificial sphincter of sorts and offering reprieve from the bag. Optimizing fit reduces both painful leakages and time spent creating a strong “seal.” Gutsy controls the flow of waste for hours at a time and takes a prosthetics approach, meaning the design supports reuse.
@char_bo13, @PrattIndustrial @Pratt.MID
#OstomyAwareness #Ostomate #IndustrialDesign #JamesDysonAward2023 #JamesDysonAwardNationalWinner #MedicalDesign #Sustainability #StudentCompetition #IndustrialDesign
Double Cultura is an award-winning short film from @PrattFilm_Video graduate Yessenia Sanchez. The film follows 12-year-old Marisol as she navigates the English-speaking world, acting as translator for her Spanish-speaking mother. This overwhelming responsibility climaxes when Marisol must be the bearer of bad medical news.
The film will screen on @HBO Max for Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month.
Yessenia(she/her/ella) is a Mexican-American filmmaker from Northern California. She received her BFA in Film at Pratt Institute (2021) where she was awarded the 2020-21 Horn Art and Design Award for notable creative achievement in filmmaking.
Recently, Yessenia was a finalist for the 2022 American Cinema Editors Internship program, and is currently working as an Assistant Editor at @Media.Monks based in Los Angeles. Her independent projects aim to redirect fictional narratives to reflect non-fictional moments we live through. By focusing on the complexities of Latine/x experiences, she plans to share the vibrancy of multiculturalism, the versatility of language, and the heart of what it means to be more than one thing.
Video courtesy of @yessenia.sanchez21
#LatinxHeritageMonth #HispanicHeritageMonth #LatinxFilmMaker #MexicanAmericanFilmMaker
“the oceans are rising and so are we!” Repost from @nypirg_pratt at the Climate Week NYC March to End Fossil Fuels.
Over 75,000 people joined the protest, the largest since before the Covid-19 pandemic.
#ClimateWeekNYC #PrattInstitute #NYPIRG
Pratt Industrial Design Alumni Chen Chen and Kai Williams (@ChenandKai) share their insights with @Rarify in the new series "How to Collect."
@PrattAlumni @PrattIndustrial
#Design #IndustrialDesign #ProductDesign
There is no denying that hats are a defining feature of Beyonce's Renaissance World Tour and many of these stand-out toppers are from the custom millinery shop of Pratt alumna Sarah Sokol (@SarahSokolMillinery). The 2011 interior design grad discovered her love of the craft after taking a millinery techniques course at Pratt. Her eye-catching chapeaus have graced the heads of icons from Billy Porter to Mary J. Blige, and are a defining feature of Cardi B. and Megan Thee Stallion's latest video for "Bongos".
#Repost @Beyonce
@PrattInteriors @PrattAlumni
Congrats to @PrattFashion senior @Malek_Rasmussen on winning the Featured Designer Golden Shears Award at @OmahaFashionWeek!
Malek competed with over 40 professional independent designers at the nation's fourth-largest fashion week, presenting looks from his Junior thesis collection. Now in its fifteenth year, Omaha Fashion Week is a nonprofit that aims to nurture emerging designers in partnership with local fashion educators.
Swipe through to check out selections from his winning collection.
Designer: @MalekR_Official
Photography: @HeatherAndJameson
Models: @DevelopModels
#PrattFashion #PrattInstitute #Pratt #FashionWeek
Announcing Pratt>Forward 2024! The upcoming edition of the @PrattFineArt program for emerging artists offers studio space and a month of intensive collaboration in partnership with @SilverArtProjects.
Pratt>Forward is a monthlong program that connects emerging artists with leading practitioners and thought leaders in the field and offers opportunities for professional development, community building, and creative exploration.
Pratt>Forward ’24 will take place in March, in partnership with Silver Art Projects at the World Trade Center. Ten participants, five of whom will be Pratt Fine Arts alumni, will be selected via an open call and receive a full scholarship and a $2,000 stipend.
Pratt>Forward is co-directed by Mickalene Thomas, BFA ’00, and Fine Arts Chair Jane South. Core mentors for 2024 include Pratt Trustee and alumnus Derrick Adams, BFA Art and Design Education ’96; arts organizer and Director of Company Gallery Elizabeth Lamb; curator, art educator, and Director of Communications and Education at the Brant Foundation Art Study Center Emily McElwreath; artist José Parlá; and curator, activist, and Project for Empty Space Founder Jasmine Wahi.
Apply: Please see the link in bio.
Deadline: 5 PM, October 20
Program Dates: March 4–29, 2024
Pratt>Forward is grateful to Lilly Robicsek, director, Silver Art Projects, for her collaboration and to Silverstein Properties for their support. Thank you also to our amazing core mentors @derrickadamsny #ElizabethLamb @emilymcelwreath_art @companygallery @thebrantfoundation @joseparla @browngirlcurator and to @mickalenethomas without whom #PrattForward would not be possible #ThankYou.
📸 Mickalene Thomas by Tropical Cream, Jasmine Wahi by Dario Calmese, and WTC by Joe Woolhead
@prattinstitute @soartpratt
Discover the work of Pratt Alumni in this range of recent books, from deep dives into design and visual journeys around the world, to personal histories, poetic explorations, and literary escapes for all ages. Visit the link in our profile to learn about these and more new and noteworthy titles showcasing the work of Pratt Alumni.
Video: Hands hold books, flipping them up to reveal covers while upbeat music plays. Background is books on library shelves.
Included books:
“Chrome Valley,” Mahogany L. Browne, MFA Writing ’16; “20 Years of Calendars: Street Scenes and People,” Michael Gerbino, BFA Communications Design ’82, Professor Emeritus of Undergraduate Communications Design; “BOOK,” They Might Be Giants -John Flansburgh, BFA Fine Arts (Printmaking) ’84, photographs by Fine Arts alumnus Brian Karlsson; “Fitting In,” John Olson and Haruka Aoki, both MFA Communications Design ’12; “Fashion Portfolio: Create, Curate, Innovate,” Michelle Nahum-Albright, BFA Communications Design ’75; “Tides and Transgressions,” Duke Riley, MFA Fine Arts ’06; “The Heart Is a Sandwich,” Jason Fulford, BFA Communications Design ’96; “City of Secrets (Battle Dragons #3),” Alex London, MSLIS ’10
@mobrowne @michael_gerbino @tmbgofficial @thecosmicharuka @dukerileystudio @mushroom_collector @mnahumalbright @alexander_london
@PrattWriting @PrattBFACommD @Pratt_SOD @SoArtPratt @PrattFineArt @PrattISchool @PrattAlumni
🔥 Repost from Laura Kim, BFA Fashion '04 (@TokiBunBun). The cocreative director for @MonseMaison shared her custom designs for @BlackPinkOfficial ♥️
Credits 📸
Abe Robledo; Jnkloops; Blackpinkministrycorps
#Blinks #BlackPinkWorldTour #PrattFashion #PrattAlumni
Both the MPS in Art Therapy and Creativity Development and MS in Dance/Movement Therapy Master’s are 60-credit programs providing a synthesis of creative, aesthetic, and psychotherapeutic theory. Courses offer a thorough theoretical framework that is translated into personal and practical application through an experiential process. Artwork and/or movement is done in every course and is used to learn therapeutic skills. Students focus on a wide variety of populations and are required to work with a different population for each of the two years of fieldwork/internship/practicum. Both programs are for students who want a broad body of skills, balanced with a strong theoretical framework.
LOW-RESIDENCY FORMAT
The low residency format is an innovative educational program based on a low residency adult-learning model. The program is designed for those students who do not live near or are otherwise unable to engage in a traditional master’s degree format.
Students in the low residency format are admitted for the spring semester only.
The cycle of classes is as follows: in March, the students take two, 3 credit classes over 9 days; in June they take two, 3 credit classes over 9 days of classes with a weekend break followed by three weeks of classes which run Monday–Friday. Students generally complete reading assignments before classes and then complete their papers after classes are over, giving them a chance to integrate class experience with readings and fieldwork/practicum/internship experience. Two years of fieldwork/internship (dance/movement therapy) or practicum (art therapy) are done from September through May following the first and second year of summer classes. Supervision is completed through weekly online contact, as well as an active online forum that keeps low residency students consistently in touch with Pratt faculty and one another. Housing is available on campus. The low residency format is offered to both art and dance/movement therapy students. The low residency program is not considered full-time. Therefore, international students will be ineligible for F–1 visas.
Students will be able to identify and utilize their own internal processes in service of therapeutic interventions.
Students will comprehend and apply creative and aesthetic processes in the context of creative arts therapy theory and practice.
Students will be able to establish a therapeutic relationship using imagery, movement, symbolization, and verbalization; and recognize shifts within that developing relationship.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of psychodynamic theory within the context of creative arts therapy practice in the service of diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing evaluation.
Students will be able to articulate clinical theory and applied practice through writing, research, oral presentation, and professional advocacy across broad interdisciplinary communities.
Students will be able to apply ethical and professional codes of practice as they apply to clinical practices, communities, and self.
Students will be able to understand the intersectionality of power, privilege, and oppression as they apply to clinical practices, communities and self.
