Art Therapy and Creativity Development, MPS

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.

student holding a hand-drawn painting, showing it to another person, in studio room, brushes, painting supplies in the background

Type: Graduate, MPS
Department: Creative Arts Therapy
School: School of Art
Credits: 60
Duration: 2 Years

Courses Plan of Study

image of artwork produced using bilateral method — 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. Pratt’s Art Therapy program can be completed in 4 semesters of full-time study. All courses are offered on the Pratt Brooklyn campus.

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.

Students in Action

Success Stories

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Prattfolio Story

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Prattfolio Story

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Ready for More?

HERE’S HOW TO APPLY	OUR CAMPUS & BEYOND
Join us at Pratt. Learn more about admissions requirements, plan your visit, talk to a counselor, and start your application. Take the next step.	You’ll find yourself at home at Pratt. Learn more about our residence halls, student organizations, athletics, gallery exhibitions, events, the amazing City of New York and our Brooklyn neighborhood communities. Check us out.

From the Catalog

View all Creative Arts Therapy courses

THE PROGRAM’S STRUCTURE

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.

ACADEMIC-YEAR FORMAT

The academic year format offers classes in a traditional manner, with classes in fall and spring semesters, for 15 weeks each semester. The cycle of classes is as follows: students take courses and fieldwork/practicum/internship from September through May for two consecutive years. Students in the low residency format are admitted for the spring semester only.

Art Therapy at Pratt

The Experience

Internships

Mission

Student Learning Outcomes

Our Faculty

Students in Action

Success Stories

Using Art and Dance to Promote Healing in Internships at Rikers Island and Providence House

Move First

The Art of Holding

Educating for the Future: Creative Arts Therapy Chair Julie Miller

How We Lead: Drena Fagen, MPS Art Therapy ’02, and Nadia Jenefsky, MPS Art Therapy ’99

Ready for More?

From the Catalog

Sample Courses

Program Overview

School of Art

Creative Arts Therapy