Welcome to the Art Therapy Research Guide
This guide was created to support students in the MPS Art Therapy program at the School of Visual Arts in beginning their research. This guide is also designed to support SVA students with a general interest in exploring art therapy topics. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "art therapy" as, "the use of visual arts activities such as drawing, painting, or modelling as a form of communication and expression in psychotherapy." (1)
Researching Art Therapy Topics
General and popular art therapy resources are included here, but art therapy research can bridge many different areas of interest, and might require conducting research beyond art therapy resources alone. An example of this would be a topic like, "bonding through community gardening." A researcher might want to consult the resources below for information on bonding, but also check out some horticulture resources, as well, for information on community gardens. The School of Visual Arts library has an abundance of resources to support the full breadth of your research. You can consult our list of over 100 additional online databases here. You can also search the library catalog here. The SVA librarians also offer one-on-one research support, which you can schedule here. During a one-on-one, we can help talk through your ideas and pinpoint promising research resources for your specific topic.
If you have any questions at all, you can always contact us here.
SVA Library provides access to art therapy titles both in-print at the Main Library and online via databases. Sometimes you will find that a journal with a long publishing history will be split between in-print and online resources. Or you may find that the title of a journal has changed over time, when the publisher decided to shorten or alter the name. These inconsistencies can sometimes make research complicated. If you are interested in browsing issues of an art history journal, or searching for a specific article, the SVA Librarians are here to help. You can always contact us here for support.
Some examples of journals relevant to art history researchers are listed below:
You can search for both art therapy books and ebooks in the library catalog. Physical books can be found on the shelves at Library West. You can try shelf-browsing by the primary call number, RC489, in the book stacks. The following titles are just some examples of what you will find:
The SVA Library provides access to video databases that contain clinical footage of art therapy practitioners in the field, educational videos for art therapists, and documentaries relevant to art therapy.
Looking for images to support your art therapy projects? The SVA Library provides access to image databases that may have what you're looking for!
**Artstor has moved to the JSTOR platform as of August 1, 2024** Documents artistic traditions across many time periods and cultures including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Digital images come from museums, archaeological teams, photo archives, slide collections, and art reference publishers. The collection is over 2+ million images. Users must create a personal account.
Stock image source with hundreds of thousands of royalty-free photographs, vector images, and videos for use in your projects. Create an account with your SVA email address. Contact library@sva.edu for the current educational key.