ABSTRACT
Working in diverse settings can be as different as working with diverse populations. Like the latter, it requires getting to know about and to understand the setting(s) in which one finds oneself. And, as is also true for populations, one needs to understand the type of setting in general as well as the particular one involved. One might think that knowing different kinds of settings is simpler and more straightforward than getting to know different populations, a complex task with many subjective components in both the definition of the group and the response of the art therapist. However, settings and institutions have personalities too, and they also can look one way on the surface and another if one probes more deeply . As noted in the chapter on consultation, analyzing a system is as complicated and demanding as analyzing the dynamics of a family-perhaps more so because of the many subsystems and the larger number of people usually involved.
