Mission

The mission of the Creative Arts Therapy Department at Pratt Institute is to provide the highest level of clinical training in art and dance/movement therapy preparing graduates to work effectively with people from diverse communities. Our unique teaching philosophy is based on a combination of personal experience, didactic learning, and practical application and is rooted in the primacy of creative process and psychodynamic theory. We offer an integration of historical perspectives and current pedagogy leading to applications of practice in a variety of settings. The program combines the power of non-verbal communication, artistic process, and embodied creative action. Our students develop self-awareness and recognition of their unique attributes through experiential learning. They acquire an increased sense of self and resiliency, which is translated to their work as creative arts therapists.

Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to identify and utilize their own internal processes in service of therapeutic interventions.
Students will comprehend and apply creative and aesthetic processes in the context of creative arts therapy theory and practice.
Students will be able to establish a therapeutic relationship using imagery, movement, symbolization, and verbalization; and recognize shifts within that developing relationship.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of psychodynamic theory within the context of creative arts therapy practice in the service of diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing evaluation.
Students will be able to articulate clinical theory and applied practice through writing, research, oral presentation, and professional advocacy across broad interdisciplinary communities.
Students will be able to apply ethical and professional codes of practice as they apply to clinical practices, communities, and self.
Students will be able to understand the intersectionality of power, privilege, and oppression as they apply to clinical practices, communities and self.