The Art Therapy Research Institute was created to support the scholarship of our faculty, students and alumni. Art therapy scholarship is a long-standing prioritized focus of our department.
In the Institute’s preliminary stages, it functioned as a meeting space to brainstorm and discuss ways to enhance the research practices of the program. It grew to support the knowledge-disseminating, systematic inquiry projects of art therapy faculty, students and alumni, including scholarly, clinical and artistic methods. Through the Institute, we aim to nurture and support the goals of our community, and acknowledge the diverse creative ways of knowing.
The Institute's Mission
The Institute's mission is to support the scholarly endeavors of the department by providing resources for faculty, engaging alumni and mentoring students.
The Institute develops supportive resources for faculty to develop and complete art therapy inquiry projects. Among the resources are:
- peer review
- IRB support
- brainstorming workshops
The Institute develops pedagogically sound procedures for facilitating student research learning and engagement. Among the procedures are:
- research curriculum refinement
- collaborative clustering support
The Institute develops mechanisms for engaging LMU MFT alumni in art therapy inquiry projects. Among the mechanisms are:
- review processes
- library access
- mentoring possibilities
The Institute includes:
- The Journal of Clinical Art Therapy
- Art Therapy Alumni Research Collaboration
- Art Therapy Research Symposium
The Institute’s Community of Art Therapists
The Art Therapy Research Institute includes the entire community of art therapists engaged in the scholarly, clinical and artistic investigations of our field. Collaborating with the faculty, students and alumni of the Graduate Department of Marital and Family Therapy, our community is augmented by the clinicians in the Helen B. Landgarten Art Therapy Clinic, the staff of the Art Therapy in Mexico program, the editors of The Journal of Clinical Art Therapy and the participants in The Art Therapy Alumni Research Collective. With our continued efforts at diversification and decolonizing research, interdisciplinary collaboration continues to be a focus of the Research Institute as we are engaging with Cedars Sinai Medical Center, and activating community outreach and engagement through the department’s Active Cultural Engagement Committee (ACE).