-
Freud's The Interpretation of Dreams is published in the US
Why this event is significant:
Freud is credited as the father of psychology, and without his work, influential art therapists like Margaret Naumburg would not have entered or created the field. -
Margaret Naumburg establishes the Children’s School (later renamed the Walden School)
Why this event is significant:
Her experience at the Walden School laid the groundwork for her theories on art therapy. -
Jung’s Psychology of the Unconscious is published
Why this event is significant:
Another influential work by an influential theorist. Jung's publication is worth noting because Naumburg underwent both Freudian and Jungian analysis. It stands to reason that her vision of art therapy was influenced by both schools of thought. -
Florence Cane comes to teach art at the Walden School, by invitation from her sister, Margaret Naumburg
Why this event is significant:
The Walden School is where Naumburg's theories of art therapy were first created, and Florence Cane was also a pioneering Art Therapist. -
Hans Prinzhorn’s Bildenderei Dei Geistranken (Artistry of the Mentally Ill) is published in Europe
Why this event is significant:
This publication marks the beginning of what we know today as outsider art. It is important for art therapists to be aware of this phenomenon, as it helps us understand the power of art (and the artists who make it). -
Naumburg publishes her first book: The Child and the World
Why this event is significant:
This is the first of many publications for Naumburg. It is a reflection of her time at the Walden School, and contains the roots of art therapy as Naumburg conceives it. -
Period: to
President Franklin Roosevelt creates the Works Project Administration (WPA) to combat the Great Depression
Why this event is significant:
The WPA allowed Mary Huntoon to be a creative director in Topeka, Kansas. This puts her on the path to significant events years later. -
Period: to
Edith Kramer teaches art classes with mentor Friedl Dicker to child refugees of Nazi Germany in Prague
Why this event is significant:
Edith Kramer is considered the second art therapy theoretician, believing in art as therapy, as opposed to Naumburg who practiced art psychotherapy. -
Mary Huntoon becomes Topeka Director of the Federal Works Project Administration
Why this event is significant:
Huntoon's work in Topeka, Kansas lead her to a career in art therapy through the Menninger Clinic. -
Naumburg meets Mary Huntoon in Topeka, Kansas during a visit to the Menninger Clinic
Why this event is significant:
The paths of two art therapists cross. There is some discrepancy over whether or not Naumburg truly coined the phrase "dynamically oriented art therapy" due to this meeting. -
Kramer immigrates to New York City to flee the Nazis
Why this event is significant:
Kramer, the second theorist of art therapy, brings her experience and knowledge to the East Coast. -
Naumburg defines “dynamically oriented art therapy”
Why this event is significant:
This established the profession as an independent mental health discipline. -
Mary Huntoon begins doing “dynamically oriented art therapy” at the Menninger Sanitarium
Why this event is significant:
Huntoon uses the same phrasing as Naumburg, though she is cited as doing so 6 years later. -
Naumburg’s first book on art therapy is published, titled Studies of the “Free” Expression of Behavior Problem Children as a Means of Diagnosis and Therapy
Why this event is significant:
Though it isn't Naumburg's first publication, it is her first book specifically focused on the field of art therapy. -
Period: to
Kramer teaches art therapy at the Wiltwyck Home for Boys
Why this event is significant:
Just as Naumburg is spreading art therapy through teaching seminars, Kramer spreads art therapy by teaching it in a therapeutic environment. -
Period: to
Naumburg gives training seminars to hospital staff about dynamically oriented art therapy along the east coast
Why this event is significant:
This spreads knowledge of the field throughout the whole region, meaning new Art Therapists are sure to emerge. -
Kramer publishes her first book: Art Therapy in a Children’s Community
Why this event is significant:
Another influential text that laid the groundwork for the profession. -
Eleanor Ulman creates and edits the first art therapy journal, Bulletin of Art Therapy (later renamed American Journal of Art Therapy)
Why this event is significant:
This journal spread art therapy throughout the entire United States, uniting art therapists across the country who were otherwise isolated in their practice. -
The American Art Therapy Association is voted into being
Why this event is significant:
This marks the beginning of art therapy as a nationally recognized profession. -
the first annual conference of the American Art Therapy Association is held in Warrenton, VA. The Art Therapy Registration (ATR) is established
Why this event is significant:
These are events that remain important today, with conferences and art therapists earning their registrations every year. -
Lucille Venture helps form the Ad-Hoc Committee to Investigate Encouraging Minority Groups to Enter and Study in the Field of Art Therapy for the AATA
Why this event is significant:
Many of the events and covered in this timeline and in many textbooks focus on white art therapists. Therefore, it is important to include Venture, an art therapist of color, just as her work on the Ad-Hoc Committee was important. -
The American Art Therapy Association develops standards for education called “Guidelines for Education and Training”
Why this event is significant:
This laid the groundwork for the way the profession is structured to this day, with high standards in place for accredited institutions. -
Education and Training Board (ETB) is formed by the AATA, later renamed the Education Program Approval Board (EPAB)
Why this event is significant:
This was a way for the AATA to standardize the way art therapy is taught in colleges and universities across the United States. -
Venture presents an alternative education plan to the Executive Board of the AATA, but it is denied
Why this event is significant:
Venture had misgivings about the criteria set in place by the AATA, as she felt they were exclusionary to art therapists of color, as many of them practiced in community spaces rather than mental health settings. -
Lucille Venture receives her Ph.D. after writing a dissertation on art therapy
Why this event is significant:
Venture was the first person in the United States to write a dissertation on art therapy. -
Period: to
Art Therapy “Board Certification” is established
Why this event is significant:
This criteria is still in place today, and art therapy programs are structured around preparing aspiring art therapists to pass their certification exams.