This project examines the meaning-making of art through multiple disciplinary lenses: Art Therapy, Art History, Studio Art, Art Education and Anthropology. Disciplines were selected for their inherent ability to enhance an understanding of meaning-making through the art making process and art product. An arts-based methodology was utilized in conjunction with the Outliers and American Vanguard Art exhibition at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which featured a juxtaposition of formally trained and self-taught artists. Each of the five researchers selected a piece of art included in the exhibition, rendered the piece, documented the rendering process, and viewed each piece and its accompanying documentation from their respective disciplinary lenses to understand meaning-making of the original artist and their work. Results of this systematic investigation exposed common themes across disciplines that inform meaning-making: Culture, Context, Comparison, Communication, Formal Elements, and Accuracy. Through an understanding of elements that comprise each exposed theme, the discipline of art therapy can expand its theoretical and practical knowledge that currently informs its approaches toward the meaning-making of art. Results of this arts-based investigation imply that continued investigation of adjacent art and culture-centric disciplines can question, corroborate, and supplement existing assumptions about the meaning-making of art process and art product in the discipline of art therapy.

This research seeks to understand the relationship between arts-based assessments and perception of self through exploration of participants’ interpretations of their own animal drawings. Subjects’ experiences with projective tests, personality assessments and tools, and art assessments were also examined for contextual understanding and comparison. To conduct this mixed methods pilot study, a survey was administered to alumni of the Loyola Marymount University Marital and Family Therapy Department. The findings suggest evidence of self- projection within arts-based assessment interpretation by way of metaphor, and highlight the potential for interpretation bias in therapeutic assessment, both in administration and perception. This pilot study has provided foundational information for future research, and suggests the following to be considered for continued exploration: styles of interpretation, framework of questions, usefulness of assessments, consistency of assessment interpretation, and how demographics plays a role in each of these elements.

Through art therapy, this research examines the influence of the main components of Latino culture as risk and/or protective factors for internalizing and externalizing behaviors and disorders in Latino adolescents. The goal of this research is to also identify how these factors impact academic performance for Latino high school students. First, a literature review examines preexisting research evaluating the presence and influence of particular cultural factors like family expectations and roles, gender, religion, language, and parental involvement in education. Non-cultural factors include peer influence and socioeconomic influences. The literature further examines the impact these factors have been found to influence internalizing and externalizing behaviors. No literature regarding the presentation of these cultural factors within art therapy was found. Second, data was collected from a case study conducted by the researcher with a Latino high school adolescent participating in school-based counseling within the art therapy modality and demonstrated internalizing and externalizing behaviors. Themes and symbols from the art created were analyzed and coded for the risk and/or protective qualities of each factor. Lastly, a discussion of findings guided by the literature review expands the meaning of the case study data and addresses five main areas: the protective or risk qualities of cultural themes and symbols within the art and art process, how the themes and symbols presented by the client can inform and guide treatment in relation to cultural factors, whether to examine these factors individually within treatment or in an integrated manner, and how this process played out within a crosscultural therapeutic relationships.

This qualitative research explored the impact that art therapy and attachment focused treatment may have on a child or adolescent with complex trauma. Literature was reviewed to explore complex trauma in children and adolescents, as well as explore treatment models that include but are not exclusive to art therapy and attachment focused treatment. The current study utilized interviews, as subjects were invited to engage in the art process and discussion with the intent to discover new, in-depth meaning about treating complex trauma in children in adolescents. Data collected from interviews revealed gaps in the mental health system and how art therapy assisted in providing a bridge for the clients to improve their ability to navigate a complex system. Art therapy was found to assist in forming secure attachment for the client, a primary function in the treatment process. Findings also suggested that art therapy provided clients with tools for communication to explore and express their external and internal experiences in a safe environment. Findings further demonstrated the importance of establishing a therapeutic relationship with children and adolescents with complex trauma as essential for maintenance of progress in treatment.

The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes and beliefs of art therapists towards Evidence-Based Practices (EBP). EBP is a rising trend in healthcare that refers to the process of using empirically validated research to make clinical decisions that best meet the needs of each client (Patterson, Miller, Carnes & Wilson, 2004).The investigators used a mixed methods approach to the research topic. Part A consists of a survey distributed to graduates of the Department of Marital and Family Therapy (MFT) at Loyola Marymount University (LMU). In addition to answering questions, survey participants were asked to create an art response depicting their perspective on the relationship between art therapy and EBP. In the second phase (Part B), the researchers used an arts-based methodology to further explore the findings from Part A. Part B involved the creation of key idea cards pulled from the literature review and the findings, individual art responses by each investigator, and verbal and written analyses of the content and process. The idea that art therapists are already integrating EBP and art therapy in their practices emerged as the major finding of the research. This realization that clinicians are already at the intersection of EBP and art therapy was a contrast to the cautious divided attitudes that were discovered in the literature review. Further research could not only strengthen the evidence base of art therapy, but also illuminate how exactly therapists have managed to bridge the gap between EBP and art therapy.

As the state of the world continues to evolve through means of social justice and technology, the discussion of cultural humility as the evolution of cultural competence is a growing topic in the field of mental health and the art therapy community. The following mixed- method research explores the impact of art materials, group processes, and creative practices in the development of cultural humility. Six graduate students from the Marital and Family Art Therapy Program at Loyola Marymount University (LMU) designed the following collaborative ethnography. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative data to answer the question: How can group art-based practices (e.g., materials, group processes) develop cultural humility among art therapists? The data collected include pre and post-survey statistics in addition to art responses and dialogue reflection. The data revealed that art-based group processes and the intentional choice of material may facilitate the growth surrounding the four principles of cultural humility. Critical self-reflection was achieved through a deep exploration of individual experiences surrounding socioeconomic status, race, colonialism, gender, family, and spirituality. Participants were able to readdress the power imbalance by taking on the role of participant and facilitator taking into consideration how information and materials are both presented and received. Through group art-making, sharing, and discussing systemic changes, participants developed partnerships with communities and maintained institutional accountability. In order to build upon our findings, we propose future research on group-based art practices with mental health professionals and trainees that focus on the development of cultural humility in different social and environmental contexts.

This research is a qualitative exploration of the impacts of Loyola Marymount’s Summer Arts Workshop from the perspective of the youth participant’s teachers and caregivers. The intention of this research was to compare findings in the literature of similar youth arts programs to LMU’s through examination of a previously unexplored perspective. Data was collected through an arts based focus group as well as paper-pencil questionnaires including both Likert scale and open ended questions. Themes emerged through thorough analysis of all data collected and presented both themes of specific program impacts and opportunities for future program improvements. The findings of this research further illuminate established assertions found within the literature of prosocial impacts produced within youth participation in community arts programs. Additionally upon expansion of emergent themes, the researcher established the findings of LMU’s Summer Arts Program to positively impact adolescents and identity development, generate gains in social capital and produce positive community impacts through art making.

Dissertation submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Fine Art in the Department of Fine Art, Durban Institute of Technology, 2006. / This study will investigate and critically evaluate the reconstitution of African women’s spiritualities in the context of the Amazwi Abesifazane project. This project forms part of the endeavours of Create Africa South, a Non Governmental Organisation situated in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, which was initiated by the artist Andries Botha. It encourages women, post trauma, to ‘re-member’ themselves by creating memory cloths of embroidery and appliqué reflecting on their experiences in pre- and post-apartheid South Africa. This interdisciplinary study theorises that it is an archive that speaks about African women resisting destructive forces and reconstituting their spiritualities through the therapeutic effects of creativity. The study will not include research into the many other activities undertaken by Create Africa South. Rupture is implied in the use of the word ‘reconstitution’. Reconstitution encompasses the act of constituting again the character of the body, mind and spirit as regards health, strength and well-being of the women (McIntosh, 1970:261). In this study, spirituality is defined as the way in which the women in the Amazwi Abesifazane project reflect upon and live out their belief in God. The power of storytelling is examined from the perspectives of narratology, narrative therapy, sewing and orality/literary studies as resources for the women’s reclamation of their lives. Defining feminisms in South Africa is problematised by issues of race, class and culture. In a context of poverty, everyday survivalist strategies are the diverse forms of resistance seen in the Amazwi Abesifazane project. The women’s stories, cloths and interviews are triangulated as primary data. They are examples of the rich art of resistance against despair and are located in a paradigm of hope. In conclusion, I strongly call for government support in declaring the project a national archive. The multidimensional mediums of the Amazwi Abesifazane/ UbuMama projects nurture the women’s creativity and revitalise their spiritualities towards personal and national transformation.

Thesis (MEdPsych (Educational Psychology)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Drawings as mediators of communication are utilised in multiple contexts across national and cultural divides. The value of drawings in eliciting meaning that transcends the boundaries of words has been documented for centuries. In educational practice, drawings are utilised in a wide range of settings, ranging from therapeutic to psycho-educational assessment, disclosure in forensic and sexual abuse cases, and for artistic expression. Furthermore, research confirms the usefulness of drawings in empowering marginalised populations from a participatory action-research stance. Using drawing in research to mediate communication in a group context when studying adolescent perceptions of a traumatic event has not been explored extensively in South Africa. This study therefore sought to explore adolescents' experiences of a shared traumatic incident as facilitated through their drawings. The research process set out to answer the following research question: What insights regarding adolescents' experiences of a shared traumatic incident can be gained from using drawing in a group context? This investigation is underpinned by an eco-systemic theoretical perspective which recognises the influence of the community in the experiences of its individual members. The African concept of ubuntu, meaning "whatever happens to the individual happens to the whole group, and whatever happens to the whole group happens to the individual", thus informs the research. Within the context of psychoanalytical theory in trauma research, international literature acknowledges that families and communities are important resources to help bring about healing. The findings of this study confirm that the dynamic interaction between personal factors and interpersonal factors relating to one's peers, family and community influence how individual and collective experiences are shaped and assimilated. The findings of the study led me to conclude that drawing became a non-confrontational facilitator for traumatised participants to express difficult feelings that may otherwise have been silenced. Furthermore, in addition to self-expression, the co-analysing of drawings in a group context created opportunities for collective remembrance. Its potential to empower marginalised populations such as the adolescent participants in this study to express their views on social injustice also emerged. The study's findings could serve as a motivator for further investigation of drawings as mediators of communication in a variety of traumarelated educational settings.

In the current literature, little is written about issues of identity in relation to persons with autism. Identity can be defined within a social context, in which individuals are seen as having multiple, changing identities that are expressed in specific, though fluid, social relationships. This dissertation explored the individual arts experiences of four children with autism spectrum disorder in relation to their social identity formation. The dissertation explored three research questions: (a) What are the contextual conditions that aid and make arts experiences salient for the child with ASD? (b) What are the outcomes of arts experiences for children with ASD? and (c) How do these experiences impact the lived experience of children with ASD? Data were collected over four months, beginning in March of 2009 and continued through June, in a private school for children with learning differences in southeastern, Texas. Data included interviews with students, parents and teachers and classroom observations. Qualitative research methodology, specifically, grounded theory was used to analyze the data. Findings were that arts experiences for children with autism spectrum disorder engendered an identity transformation for the participants. The central phenomenon of the study was termed: Re-imagining of the identity of the child with autism spectrum disorder. Through shared discourse of the classroom teachers, arts teachers, and parents, the children participants became identified as “art kids” and “drama kids” within the school community. Re-imagining consisted of re-envisioning the child’s future, re-defining the child by his or her talents versus his or her deficits, and re-interpreting the child’s actions and behaviors. / text