46th Annual Conference of the American Art Therapy Association
July 30, 2015
Drexel’s art therapy faculty and alumni from both the PhD in Creative Arts Therapies and Masters in Art Therapy and Counseling programs were well represented at the 46th Annual Conference of The American Art Therapy Association (AATA). This year’s conference was held in Minneapolis, with Temple Grandin, PhD, as the keynote speaker.
Seen in #OfftheCharts: Missed the AATA 46th Annual Conference? We have all of the highlights! http://t.co/iu5Si0mBXi pic.twitter.com/kXlaNaoCAU
Yasmine Awais, MAAT, (interim director, masters’ program) was invited to facilitate a master supervision session on Multicultural Clinical Practice. Nancy Gerber, PhD, (director, PhD Program) facilitated a small group discussion as a part of an Education Committee Workshop for Art Therapy Educators. Gerber also co-facilitated and moderated the Research Committee's annual Research Roundtable. She gave two presentations: "Imagery as Data in Art Therapy Research and Practice" with Michele Rattigan, MA, (assistant clinical professor) and master’s alumna Tina Montagna-Tate; and presented on a panel entitled "The Art Therapy Education Continuum." Girija Kaimal, EdD, (assistant professor in the PhD program) co-presented "Painting a Bigger Picture: How to Foster Applied Research through Clinician-Researcher Partnerships." Donna Kaiser, PhD, (associate clinical professor in the masters’ program) co-presented a paper with masters’ alumna Abigail Gray entitled “Pair Art Therapy: Increasing Empathic Reactions in Pre-School Children. Gioia Chilton, alumna of our PhD Program also co-presented on "Art Therapy and Positive Psychology: Exchanging Ideas and Support" and "Positive Art Therapy: Bridging Positive Psychology and Art Therapy." Additionally, the following alumni from the MA program presented at the conference: Natalie Carlton, Abbien Crowley, Michele Dean, Jessica Drass, Hope Heffner, Juliet King, Kelly McFadden Kuchinov, Sarah Manley, Tina Montagna-Tate, Kathryn Snyder, and Nicole Wilcox.
Kaimal was awarded the AATA Research Award for her work on health outcomes of visual expression; and masters’ alumna Michelle Dean was awarded the Pearlie Roberson Award, which aims to support projects that target multicultural aspects and capacities of art therapy. Faculty, alumni and friends celebrated all of our accomplishments at a Drexel hosted reception, with 30 people in attendance.