Art Therapy for Youngsters in Schools & in the Community

This film showcases the implementation of art therapy interventions for students with behavioral and/or academic challenges in several different school settings. Case studies of elementary and high school students are comprehensively profiled at two different locations: a public school in the Northeast of the United States and two other community sites in East Sussex, England. In the course of these moving stories, a wide range of examples of expressive student artwork are shown, underscoring the need for accessible interventions in the educational community. The film presents interviews with the art therapists and highlights the opportunities for collaboration within the schools’ treatment and educational teams. The benefits of art therapy are evident through recorded sessions and interviews with these school-based art therapists.

In addition, there is a vignette about art therapy with youngsters in a state hospital classroom in a program profiled by youthful journalists on a local public television station. The film ends with a unique and long-running program organized by famed glassblowing pioneer Dale Chihuly with local officials that helps high school dropouts return to the classroom in the context of learning the craft. The many therapeutic benefits of the program are quite evident, and its location within the larger community offers an example of how artists can collaborate with teachers and social workers to help to rehabilitate at-risk adolescents.

Total Running Time: 56 minutes, 10 seconds