I looked down as I wandered the art store near my former therapist’s office. Seeking freedom from a depressive episode, I wasn’t certain how to make the best use of my appointment. I felt like a bird that had fallen into some mud. My wings drenched, I sought to escape. How could I talk about this? What would be helpful to discuss in therapy? That’s when I spotted the black wings. I picked those up and some golden letters.
Although I don’t remember the conversation well, I still have the dark, feathery decoration braced with golden letters reading “These Wings Still Fly”. Something changed.
Art therapy offers special tools for the healing process. Even as a psychotherapist and a person who has benefited from it, I find it somewhat magical. Art therapists I have come to know certainly have a craft they have mastered, yet something seems to transpire that is trickier to define than with traditional, talk-based therapy.
To better understand this, I met with Marina Doering, a licensed art therapist and founder of Creative Continuum Therapy. Marina provides psychotherapy through the lens of art therapy, supporting clients of all ages—many of whom are neurodivergent or benefit from non-verbal modes of expression.
A Unique Style of Therapy
Art therapy encompasses a rainbow of media to allow individuals to work toward therapeutic goals. These are arranged through a framework known as the ‘expressive arts continuum,’ involving four levels of experience: kinesthetic-sensory, perceptual-affective, cognitive-symbolic, and creative (Hinz, 2019).
Art therapists utilize assessments, carefully chosen materials, and a carefully attuned trust for the process to give clients a place to create and heal.
What might seem quite mysterious is an immensely intentional and collaborative process.
Marina elaborates, “The creative expressive therapies continuum looks at creative engagement at the baseline of sensory-kinesthetics, like touch. It explores how we enter the world. Then, we look through the pinnacle of creativity. How do we put everything together along the way? It’s a holistic experience.”
This may include visual arts, movement, music, drama, improvisation, and more—particularly in expressive arts therapy, an allied but separate discipline that integrates multiple modalities.
As we discuss Marina’s procedures, she shares, “We are extremely intentional about what mediums we are working with. It’s kind of like the man behind the mask type of thing. There is so much effort put in for the experience for the patient.”
Some art therapy sessions are structured with specific activities. Other times, they are more exploratory. Marina describes having a “bag of tricks” ranging from more literal directives to abstract invitations.
What If I’m Not Good at Art?
Sometimes, trying to shape our emotions and thoughts into words in a counseling session is tricky. Here, expressive arts therapies offer relief. Nonetheless, art can be intimidating.
If you don’t think you are good at art, fear not.
Marina reminds me, “Art therapy is not art class, the intention is not the product.”
In art therapy, the therapist is not teaching clients how to perfect specific artistic skills like shading or realism. Rather, Marina states, it’s about “engaging with the material, finding attunement with the art itself. It could even be just being in the room with materials or trying a material.”
She shares that some clients even choose to discard their creations at the end of the session. “The purpose of art therapy isn’t to make something to hang on the wall—it’s to process, explore, and heal.”
Art Therapy, Expressive Arts Therapy, and Therapeutic Art-Making—What’s the Difference?
Art therapy can be integrated into almost any psychotherapy. Art therapists typically complete the same licensure processes as traditional counselors, but they have an additional tool of creative expressive arts therapies to offer clients. While psychotherapists from other disciplines may utilize art directives as a therapeutic tool, art therapy is very much its own field with particular ethics, techniques, and theory.
- Art Therapy is a clinical mental health profession provided by trained, credentialed art therapists. It blends psychotherapy with art-making and is rooted in psychological theory, ethics, and treatment planning.
- Expressive Arts Therapy uses multiple art forms—such as movement, drama, music, and visual arts—and may be facilitated by trained expressive arts therapists. It’s often integrative and non-verbal, but not all expressive arts therapists are licensed mental health providers.
- Therapeutic Art-Making refers to using art for personal growth or stress relief outside of a clinical setting. While therapeutic, it is not therapy unless facilitated by a qualified mental health professional.
“Art therapy is its own discipline,” Marina notes. “It’s a clinical relationship with an added dimension of creative engagement. We’re not just ‘doing art’—we’re using it to hold emotion, regulate the nervous system, and deepen insight.”
Neurodivergence and Art Therapy
Marina frequently supports neurodivergent clients using art therapy. She explains, “When someone comes in with a neurodivergent diagnosis, they’re already navigating questions: How does my brain work? Why do I struggle with regulation or motivation? Art becomes a shared language that allows us to explore those layers.”
Certain materials can meet sensory needs, support regulation, and reduce overwhelm. Marina shares that art therapy can follow a pathway of educate, regulate, integrate, and advocate, especially helpful for youth learning about their own neurodivergence.
“Each person’s experience is unique,” Marina says. “We can work with common threads, but the final creation—the growth, the story, the healing—is unique to that individual.
Marina expands, “When someone comes in with a neurodivergent diagnosis, they are already figuring things out. What does this mean? How does my brain work? What does it mean when I have a challenge with attention, motivation, regulation, or relating to others? Art is a common language that helps us look at those pieces together and create new pieces in a bigger picture as they progress. It gives us all this common ground to come back to in the creative process.”
Specific materials in art therapies assist in meeting sensory needs, helping individuals to regulate their minds and bodies. Marina highlights that this can be especially helpful to neurodivergent youth discussing steps of “Educate, regulate, integrate, and advocate.”
Because it is a personalized style of psychotherapy, art therapy has some advantages for neurodivergent clients. Marina acknowledges that art therapy with each client will be as unique as a fingerprint. She states, “We can work with common threads, but the blanket that comes of it is all different colors and really tailored.”
This is important as many of the clients Marina works with are ADHDers. While ADHD involves specific traits and neuropsychological patterns, each person’s story is distinct.
Closing
I walked away from my conversation with Marina with a deeper appreciation for art therapy. It’s not just coloring or creating—it’s a therapeutic relationship guided by creativity and grounded in psychology.
As Marina says: “It’s about the process, not the product.” And in that process, something powerful unfolds—something words alone may never quite capture.