ABSTRACT
The art therapist must provide an environment where unconscious fears and fantasies can be expressed free of censorship and must guide the creative process, not direct it. This requires specified time limits, spatial boundaries, developmentally appropriate art supplies, and a commitment to confidentiality. The art teacher ensures that the classroom is safe and supportive and conveys the message that individuality is respected and that there can be many solutions to problems. Exhibiting artwork is very important, celebrating the students’ identities as artists. While teaching is more directive and more concerned with technical instruction, the creation of art, in and of itself, can be therapeutic. Ethical dilemmas related to the creation of art are not confined to treatment settings. During a multicultural art exchange, first graders painted a mural of DC monuments amid cherry blossoms for a school in Guatemala and sent it with cards they had written in Spanish.
