Are you artistic, sensitive and caring? Have you considered using art to help others?
Perhaps a future career in Art Therapy is for you. Art Therapy explores the transformative power of creative expression to heal and improve lives.
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.
What sets the Converse College 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.
- One of the most comprehensive undergraduate Art Therapy programs available
- Includes two semesters of internships where the student engages in artmaking with professionals in a variety of community settings
- 90% of our graduates who have applied to graduate schools have been accepted into the programs of their choice
- Current and visiting faculty members are credentialed professionals with clinical and supervisory experience in the field of art therapy
- The Art Therapy program at Converse is guided by the standards set forth by the American Art Therapy Association
Service Learning in Haiti
Following the devastating 2010 earthquake, art and music therapy students joined together in two service learning trips to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Read more.
Internships
Converse art therapy majors are guided through an intensive year-long internship in a clinical setting. Recent grads have completed internships at:
- McCarthy Teszler School for special needs children
- Eden Terrace residence for older adults
- New Day Clubhouse for adults with special needs
- Spartanburg Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission
- Greenville Mental Health
- Greenville Children’s Hospital
The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Art Therapy is designed to prepare students for graduate study, which is required to become a registered art therapist. Students will gain theoretical understanding of the use of art in therapeutic settings through in-class experiential work and role play and through community-based internships in their senior year. Students are also encouraged to use their own creative processes to deepen personal understanding of the benefits of the arts in healing.
A student majoring in art therapy must complete 44 credit hours of coursework in art and art therapy, including ART 414: Senior Seminar and ART 415: Senior Exhibition. In addition to these 44 credit hours, a student also must complete 15 hours of 200–level or above courses in the Department of Psychology.
At the time of graduation, the art therapy major is expected to:
1. demonstrate a comprehensive perspective on the history and theoretical approaches which contributed to the current art therapy paradigms;
2. discuss the professional and educational opportunities in the art therapy field;
3. exhibit an extensive knowledge of the creative process as applied to diverse populations;
4. demonstrate developed written and verbal communication skills for interacting with individuals or groups in an art-making process.
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 alumnae doing?
Grad Schools
- Florida State 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
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