fa·cil·i·tate [fuh-sil-i-teyt] - to assist the progress of

I've been working at Open Door for just over 6 months now*- and I still have family and friends asking "So...what do you do there? It's art-therapy right?" Even with me there explaining it to them, the conversation ends with "Oh. So its art-therapy"

But here's the thing-
It's not.

According to the AATA,

Art therapists who meet rigorous education and experience requirements are credentialed by the Art Therapy Credentials Board. The "Art Therapy Registration" credential (ATR) is granted to art therapists who have completed graduate education and post-graduate supervised experience requirements and the "Board Certification" credential (ATR-BC) is granted to Registered Art Therapists who pass a written examination

While we at Open Door are all very good listeners, none of us are trained therapists. We're art facillitators. We're artists. We facillitate. What does that mean? It means we function somewhere between an artist assistant, a colleague and a college professor. There are no assignments here (much like in an upper level studio art course), but we do help our artists to generate ideas and to see those ideas through to a finished product. Along the way we may offer feedback and advice based on past experience (much like we do for each other when working on our own art) and at some points we may help with a technical difficulty (such as transfering an artists small drawing onto a larger, more marketable canvas, much like an artist's assistant). But really, all our varied efforts can be summed up simply- We are artists working to create a space where other artists can create and grow artistically. Our studio artists aren't here because they need therapy, they're here because they want to make things and get better at making things.

.

Art therapy, while practiced in a wide variety of ways, usually involves two parts- art (which we have) and therapy (which we do not). According to Wikipedia, art therapy tends to be practiced in one of two ways- Either the art-making process itself is used theraputically, or the therapist "interpret's the client's smbolic self-expression as communicated in the art.

painting by ODAS artist Brenda.
I can tell you the off center composition and warm color scheme help to create a playful/engaging painting, and that the fun, graphic quality is caused, not only be the expression on the face, but also by the thick, black outline. But, I have no idea what, if anthing, is being symbolically expressed.

*Yup. Still awesome.

**Disclaimer: all info on art therapy gained via the internet. Like I said, it's not what we do, so if we got something wrong in the description, let us know!