Art Therapy vs. Using Art in Therapy: Why the Distinction Matters

If you've ever searched for a therapist and seen "art therapy" listed as a service, you may have assumed that means the clinician is a trained art therapist. Sometimes that's true. Often, it isn't, and the difference matters more than most people realize.

This isn't about keeping art locked away from other helping professionals. Creativity is valuable, and encouraging clients to engage in their own creative practice outside of session is something any thoughtful provider can do. But facilitating art-based interventions within a clinical session is a different matter entirely, and one that carries real risk when done without proper training.

What Art Therapy Actually Is

Art therapy is a distinct mental health profession with its own theory, research base, clinical framework, and ethical code. It draws on the fields of psychology, counseling, and studio art, and it rests on the understanding that the creative process itself is therapeutically meaningful, not just the product it produces.

Art therapists complete master's-level graduate training specifically in art therapy, which includes studio art coursework, art therapy theory, clinical practice, and supervised fieldwork. After graduation, they must complete thousands of hours of post-graduate supervised clinical experience before earning credentials through the Art Therapy Credentials Board (ATCB). Those credentials are:

• ATR (Registered Art Therapist): awarded after completing the required post-graduate supervised hours

• ATR-BC (Board Certified Art Therapist): awarded after passing a national board certification exam

• ATCS (Art Therapy Certified Supervisor): an advanced credential for art therapists who supervise others working toward their ATR

In Oregon, licensure is tied directly to these credentials. An art therapist with their ATR can apply for the LAT (Licensed Art Therapist) designation. An art therapist who has earned their ATR-BC can apply for the LCAT (Licensed Certified Art Therapist) designation. Both titles are legally protected under Oregon law, meaning no one can use them without meeting these specific requirements.

Art Therapy Cannot Be Learned From a Workbook or Weekend Workshop

This is worth saying plainly, because a common misconception is that attending a creative arts workshop, completing an online course, or reading a book about expressive arts means you are now equipped to practice art therapy. It doesn't.

Those experiences can be meaningful and can deepen a personal creative practice. But they are not clinical training. Art therapy competency is built over years, through graduate coursework, supervised clinical hours, and ongoing professional development within a specialized framework. A workshop teaches you techniques. A master's program in art therapy teaches you how to think, assess, and intervene as an art therapist. Those are not the same thing, and presenting yourself as an art therapist after the former is a misrepresentation of your training.

Art Is Its Own Language. Partial Fluency Isn't Enough.

Think of it this way: just because someone speaks a little Spanish doesn't mean they should advertise themselves as bilingual or conduct sessions in Spanish with a client who needs fluency. Just because someone knows how to use a knife in the kitchen doesn't mean they're qualified to work as a professional chef. And just because a therapist can purchase bilateral tappers doesn't mean they know how to facilitate EMDR. Owning the tools, or having passing familiarity with a modality, is not the same as being trained in it.

Art works the same way. It is its own language, with its own grammar, its own depth, and its own clinical terrain. A therapist who doesn't speak that language fluently may not recognize what is happening when a client accesses something through image-making that they cannot verbally contain. They may not know how to hold the affect that surfaces, how to work with the symbolism that emerges, or how to close what the art process opened. That isn't a hypothetical risk. It is a real one, and clients can be harmed by it.

Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. That principle is at the heart of scope of practice for every helping profession, and art is no exception.

What This Means for Non-Art-Therapist Providers

If you are a therapist, counselor, social worker, or coach without art therapy training, there is still a meaningful and appropriate role for creativity in your work. That role lives outside the clinical intervention space.

Encouraging a client to keep a sketchbook, explore an art class, or engage in creative activities on their own as part of their self-care is well within your scope. Discussing creative work a client brings up voluntarily in the same way you might explore any lived experience is also appropriate.

What falls outside your scope is facilitating art-based interventions within the session itself. This includes structured activities like "draw your feelings," collage exercises, visual journaling prompts, or any use of art materials as an intentional clinical tool. Even activities that look simple from the outside can open significant psychological territory. Without training in the art process itself, not just as a metaphor but as a clinical medium, you are not equipped to navigate where that territory leads.

If you find yourself regularly drawn to using art with clients, that is worth paying attention to. It may be a sign that art therapy training is the right next step for you professionally. Pursuing a master's degree in art therapy and working toward your ATR is the appropriate path if this work calls to you. That training exists for good reason.

And if you are working with a client who wants to do deep creative work as part of their healing process, the most ethical and clinically sound thing you can do is refer them to a trained art therapist. Refer out not because you are failing them, but because you are advocating for them to receive the level of care they are asking for.

What to Look For as a Client

If you are seeking an art therapist, look for these credentials:

• ATR or ATR-BC from the Art Therapy Credentials Board

• LAT or LCAT in Oregon, or the equivalent protected license in your state

• A master's degree specifically in art therapy

If a provider lists "art therapy" as a service but does not hold these credentials, ask questions. You deserve to know what training is behind the services you are being offered.

The Bottom Line

Scope of practice exists to protect clients. Every helping professional, no matter how skilled or well-intentioned, has limits to what they are trained to do. Art therapy is not a casual add-on, a set of fun techniques, or something that can be absorbed through a weekend intensive. It is a specialized clinical profession that requires years of training to practice safely and ethically.

Encourage creativity. Celebrate it. Point your clients toward their own creative lives with enthusiasm. But facilitating art in the clinical space belongs to those who have done the work to learn how to do it safely. That line is not about professional ego. It is about client welfare, and it matters.

Written by Jordan Hubchik, LPC, LCAT, ATR-BC

Date: May 8, 2026