Skip to main content
Converse University
    • Undergraduate
      • Majors, Minors, & Pre-Professional Programs
      • Applying to Converse
      • Tuition and Fees
      • Financial Aid
      • Find Your Counselor
    • Graduate
      • Master’s Degrees & Doctoral Programs
      • Tuition and Fees
      • Financial Aid
      • University Center of Greenville (UCG)
    • About Converse
      • Our Mission & Values
      • Converse at a Glance
      • The Converse Community
      • The Converse Advantage
      • About Spartanburg
    • Visit Converse
      • Campus Map
      • Virtual Tour
      • Visit Converse
      • COVID-19 Info
    • Converse-admissions-at-glance-admission

      See clearly, decide wisely, and act justly

      Converse offers over 100 majors, minors, certificates, and graduate programs. We guarantee all undergraduate, full-time students will graduate from Converse in four years.

      Converse at a Glance

    • Majors & Programs
      • Undergraduate Majors & Minors
      • Graduate Programs
      • Career Tracks, Certificates & Partnerships
      • Course Offerings & Academic Catalogs
    • Schools & Departments
      • The Arts
      • Education & Graduate Studies
      • Humanities, Sciences & Business
      • Converse College for Women
      • Converse International School 康沃斯大学国际学院
    • Beyond the Classroom
      • Research
      • Nisbet Honors Program
      • Model Programs
      • Career Development
      • Travel & Study Abroad
    • Academic Resources
      • Mickel Library
      • Registrar
      • Faculty Directory
      • Academic Support
      • Academic Calendars
    • Converse grant science program NIH

      Create, innovate, and transform.

      Converse puts you in the middle of it all. From research, real-world experience, and engaging faculty, to internships and career advisement teams, we put your future first.

      Academics

    • Campus Services
      • Bookstore
      • Campus Safety
      • Technology Support
      • Dining Options
      • Venue Rental
    • Student Life
      • Student Development & Success
      • Clubs & Organizations
      • Campus Events
      • Health & Counseling
      • Leadership & Service
    • Converse Alumni
      • Stay Connected
      • Service Opportunities
      • Transcripts
      • In Memoriam
      • Reunion
    • Life at Converse
      • First-Year Experience
      • Residential Students
      • Commuter Students
      • First-Generation Student Support
      • Diversity, Community & Inclusion
    • 50399412677_dcf97d8c7d_c

      Your college life starts here.

      From residential campus life to clubs and athletics, to beyond Spartanburg, see what life outside the classroom is like.

      Life at Converse

  1. AthleticsGo Valkyries!
  1. MyConverse
  2. Calendar
  3. Directory
  1. apply
  2. visit
  3. give
Converse University
  • Home
  • Academics
  • Programs

Art Therapy

If you enjoy using art to help others, an Art Therapy career path may be for you. Art Therapy explores the transformative power of creative expression to heal and improve lives.

Converse’s undergraduate art therapy program is a pre-professional degree program for students who are interested in flourishing as artists and pursuing careers as clinical mental health counselors. Art therapy encompasses the transformation of individuals and communities through art-making and creativity.

At Converse, you will be able to explore your talents in a studio concentration (drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, ceramics, photography, and digital media). At the same time, you will be able to nurture your relational skills, become a compassionate leader, and cultivate cultural humility to be an effective human service provider.

Degree Offered

  • Bachelor of Arts in Art Therapy

About Art Therapy

Art Therapy combines coursework in studio art and psychology to benefit the health and well-being of people in all social and cultural settings. Art therapy is used in hospitals, schools, psychiatric settings and assisted living facilities. The unique expressive quality of this profession allows individuals of all artistic abilities to examine personal experiences, gain insight and transform their lives.

Our studio-based program is taught by credentialed art therapists who actively practice in the field, along with practicing studio artists and psychology faculty. After completing this on-campus program you will be fully prepared to pursue a graduate degree. A master’s degree in art therapy is a minimum requirement to practice art therapy. To learn more about the field of art therapy, please visit the American Art Therapy Association’s website.

If you choose to postpone graduate school and work after you have earned this bachelor’s degree, you’ll be prepared to work in positions that use art media in social service agencies.

What sets the Converse University Art Therapy program apart from other undergraduate programs is our commitment to serving the community and preparing our students for the most prestigious graduate programs in the country.

  • Community building in the classroom and across campus − At Converse, you will become a compassionate leader and an engaged community member. You will have the opportunity to build lifelong friendships while supporting and being supported by your peers and professors.
  • Field experience and internships – You will participate in a year-long internship during your senior year. You will work with community-based art programs to obtain over 100 hours of real-world experience.
  • Senior capstone thesis – During your senior year, you will participate in a final project including a research paper, a visual research art exhibition, and a project presentation. Previous projects have covered topics such as 21st-century refugees, archetypes in art-making, story cloths in art therapy, and art’s role in increasing cognition in older adults.
  • Credentialed faculty – All of our art and design professors are exhibiting artists and experts in the field.
  • Art studio facilities – With our National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) accredited art program, you will have access to customized studio spaces, including indoor and outdoor kilns, a state-of-the-art MAC lab, live studio models, a darkroom, and a woodshop.
  • Senior art exhibition – In the spring of your senior year, you will participate in a group art exhibition. This is a great opportunity for you to learn how to hang and market an art exhibition.

At Converse, you will learn both on campus and in the community.

Field Experience

In the fall of your senior year, you will participate in a cohort field experience with Spartanburg Housing’s Archibald Rutledge Residences for Older and Disabled Adults.

Internships

During the spring semester, you will complete a 120-hour internship with individuals across a continuum of care in mental health and community-based agencies.

Converse Art Therapy students have completed internships with:

  • The Greater Greenville Mental Health Center
  • The Children’s Advocacy Center, an abuse treatment center for children and adolescents
  • The adolescent unit of the Hope Center for Children
  • The New Day Clubhouse for adults living with chronic mental illness
  • Spartanburg Housing’s Archibald Residence for Older and Disabled Adults
  • The Alzheimer’s Association
  • Prisma Health inpatient psychiatric care
  • Spartanburg School District 5, in a special education classroom for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.
Converse internships art
Community Partnerships in Action

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Zeisler spearheaded a campus-wide photography project with students to reduce social isolation and counteract the autonomic nervous system’s freeze response. This project was funded by the Chapman Cultural Center, Spartanburg, SC, and the School of the Arts. Read more…

 

Our students are making a difference and being awarded for their efforts. Alumnna Rachel Hopp ‘20 won the Center for Career Development’s “Intern with the Greatest Impact” award for her efforts at The Hope Center for Children.

Art Therapy Students

Converse’s undergraduate art therapy program is embedded within a dynamic liberal arts curriculum. This major prepares students to identify as artists interested in the social transformation of individuals and communities.

Converse offers a four-year Bachelor of Arts in Art Therapy. The art therapy major is interdisciplinary and consists of a total of 62- credit hours, including a strong foundation in studio art and art history (minimum of 32 hours), psychology (minimum of 12 hours), and art therapy courses (minimum of 18 hours). You must also complete the university’s general education curriculum requirements.

Art Therapy Program Goals

The program seeks to maintain a high percentage of graduate acceptance into master’s programs or successful entrance into the baccalaureate-level social service workforce. To accomplish this end, the degree program for the Bachelor of Arts in Art Therapy identifies the following goals:

  1. Develop studio applications that support competency in two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) visual language, with the inclusion of non-traditional materials.
  2. Examine a comprehensive knowledge of art therapy theory within historical and contemporary contexts for understanding the profession.
  3. Advance civic awareness, ethical behavior, creative problem solving, and cultural humility during art-based interactions with individuals across a continuum of care in mental health and community agencies.

View the BA in Art Therapy Major requirements.

Course Offerings & Academic Catalogs

Many art therapy majors combine a psychology major or minor with their degree. Most of the graduates pursue graduate school, earning their masters in art therapy, clinical counseling, marriage and family therapy, or even a PhD in Psychology.  Other art therapy graduates seek careers in schools, nursing homes, or residential treatment centers as Activities Coordinators, conducting art and leisure-based groups under the supervision of a Registered Art Therapist, Child Protective Services, or Managed Care organizations.

What are common careers in Art Therapy?

  • Registered Art Therapist
  • Counselor
  • Activities Coordinator

What are Art Therapy alumni doing?

Grad Schools

  • Florida State University
  • Adler University
  • George Washington University
  • Lesley University
  • Prescott College
  • Southwestern College

Jobs

  • Executive Director at WestGate Family Therapy, Spartanburg, SC
  • Counselor/Art Therapist at The Door is Open Counseling Center, Massachusetts
  • Mental Health Counselor II at Generations Group Home, South Carolina
  • The Gibbs Center at Spartanburg Regional Health Care
  • The Louisville Baptist Hospital
  • Veterans Administration in Washington, DC

Next Steps

  • Request info Connect with us
  • Visit the campus We will be your home
  • Apply online Start your journey

Department News

2023 Converse Emerging Young Artists Juried Exhibition Accepting Entries

Converse’s Department of Art and Design is accepting entries for the 2023 Emerging Young Artists Juried Exhibition. High school students in grades 9-12 are invited to submit entries for the Converse …

Read More

Art Therapy Students Present Compelling Capstone Presentations

Converse Art Therapy students presented a myriad of intriguing topics as part of their senior Art Therapy capstone thesis student presentations last month. Art Therapy combines studio art and psychology to benefit …

Read More

Congratulations to the 2021 Virtual Juried Art Winners

The following Converse students have received honors for their submissions to the 2021 Virtual Juried Art contest. The juror, Bailie Bailey, a well-known local artist, art educator, and studio owner, selected …

Read More

Programs of Study

Converse offers over 100 majors, minors, certificates, and graduate programs across 2 campuses and online.

    • Undergraduate Degrees
    • Graduate Programs
    • Arts
    • Education and Graduate Studies
    • Humanities, Sciences, and Business
Request Information Visit Campus Apply Now
Converse University
  1. Campus Map
  2. Employment Opportunities
  3. Human Resources
  4. Title IX
  5. Alumni
  6. Converse College for Women
  7. Lawson Academy
  8. Strategic Plan 2023-2026
  9. Converse International School
  10. About Converse
  11. Converse Box Office
  12. Accreditations and Affiliations
  13. HEERF Disclosure Statements
  14. Employers and Recruiters

Contact Us

580 E. Main Street
Spartanburg, SC 29302
864.596.9000

Contact Converse University

Follow Us

  • Like us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Add us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on YouTube

© Converse University

Privacy Policy
Copyright
Converse University
2023
Employment Opportunities