Graduation Date
1983
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Other
Committee Chair Name
John Gai
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Dr. Jerrald Krause
Keywords
Art
Abstract
I have known since I was a child that art was of therapeutic value to me. I spent long hours painting and drawing while growing up and majored in art as an undergraduate. As a graduate, I earned a credential to teach art in kindergarten through junior college and a general secondary credential enabling me to teach art and the humanities in high school. When I taught kindergarten I was delighted by the charming, untrained, spontaneous artwork done by my young students and have admired and been fascinated with the unconscious images which have innocently appeared in the work of my community college art students over the last ten years. The walls of my house are highlighted with naive paintings and drawings done by my son and daughter who are now twenty and sixteen years old, respectively, as well as the artwork produced by my husband and me. After earning a masters of arts degree in psychology a few years ago, I was permitted by the psychology department at College of the Redwoods to teach two courses involving art therapy; a course entitled "Visualization and Health" and one entitled "Self Discovery Through Art," The individual art therapy I experienced in affiliation with an art therapist had convinced me of my continuing need to contact deeper levels of my psyche through art media. In addition, the visualization training I had received from Carl Simonton, M.D. and his wife, Stephanie, a psychotherapist, illustrated to me how effectively art therapy can be used as a tool for self exploration, emotional discharge and changing belief systems. Now as I pursue my goal of becoming a licensed marriage, family, child counselor, I am discovering the usefulness of art therapy in an interactional approach to treating families. This project investigates the evolution of family art therapy, its use as a diagnostic tool in family therapy and its benefits to the treatment of dysfunctional family systems. This paper also describes how I have used family art therapy in the counseling I have done as a field practice experience in a preschool.
Recommended Citation
Cinnamond, Jane, "Family Art Therapy" (1983). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2469.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2469