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The relationship between learning and mental health, as well as a growing body of literature, underscores the need for art therapy in educational settings. This is particularly true for learners with special needs. Shostak et al. (1985) affirmed that “for children with special needs, art therapy in a school setting can offer opportunities to work through obstacles that impede educational success” (p. 19). School art therapy facilitates improved social interaction, increased learning behaviors, appropriate affective development, and increased empathy and personal well-being. It can be adapted to meet the specific developmental needs of individual students and to parallel students’ developmental, learning, and behavioral objectives. This chapter introduces the reader to the history and basic constructs of art therapy as a psychoeducational therapeutic intervention in schools. Model programs are identified, as well as the role of the art therapist within the context of K-12 education settings. Additionally, examples of special populations who benefit from art therapy intervention within school systems are provided, along with considerations for school-wide art therapy.

Drawing on literature and the evaluation of a UK community Arts in Health project, this article aims first to demonstrate that, in spite of the common association in mental health practice between art and the use of psychotherapeutic techniques, involvement in art creation can, in itself, have a sustained and positive impact on the mental and social wellbeing of participants and, second, to give an analysis of the different forms of arts involvement in health.

A qualitative evaluation of a successful process‐based arts in health‐care provision to existing vulnerable mental health community groups is discussed.

While the implementation of traditional forms of art therapy tends to be the preserve of those with specialist training, process‐orientated art for health projects have been found to be more versatile and are developments in which many practitioners potentially play an important part. Arts in Health provision in a community setting can offer positive health benefits, and aid health promotion.

More widespread, sustained funding and further evaluation and research for this accessible, cost‐effective means of health promotion in a community setting are needed.

Arts in Health, in institutions (such as prison and hospital) as well as community, is a rapidly expanding, successful and attractive, yet severely under‐funded provision. Descriptive in‐depth evaluations and critical analyses of the field, such as that presented here, need to be made available in order to develop the field practically and theoretically.

Remote and regional Australia have comparatively fewer mental health services than their urban counterparts, what is more, mental health remains profoundly stigmatised. This study aims to understand how, if at all, the process of group art-making then publicly displaying the artworks can contribute to stigma reduction for young people (YP) experiencing mental health challenges in regional Australia.

Interviews were conducted with six young artists who use regional mental health services and 25 people who viewed their displayed art using a thematic analysis of the coded interview data.

Findings of this study demonstrated how art-making as a process increased self-esteem, social interaction and artistic expression; while the viewers experienced an emotional connection to the art. The viewer’s response enhanced YP’s confidence in their abilities.

Incorporating art-making and exhibiting the art in public spaces could be incorporated into YP’s mental health services to support well-being and inform the perception the general public hold of mental health, thus reducing stigma.

The purpose of this paper is to set an example of how people with severe learning difficulties could be more integrated into our society.

The installation consists of puzzles in the form of a specially designed table with an integrated touch screen. As the visual templates for the puzzles serve pictures painted by a person with severe learning difficulties. The pieces of the puzzles are manipulated directly by the player on the touch screen presenting an intuitive and easily learned user interface.

The framework for the work was a creation of an interactive art installation in the form of a game where users assemble puzzles on a touch monitor, housed in a specially designed table. Paintings by a person with severe learning difficulty served as visual templates for the puzzles. The pieces of the puzzles can be manipulated directly by the user on a touch screen presenting an intuitive and easily learned user interface, which stimulates the learning of fine motor skills and encourages practice, thus making it suitable for persons with severe learning difficulties in an art therapy setting.

As the work has the format of an interactive art installation, this enables it to gain publicity through exhibitions in art galleries.

The installation demonstrates how people with severe learning difficulties can be integrated into the broader society. At the same time, these people are encouraged to use modern computer information technology, which is becoming a necessity also for this group of users. Ethical issues regarding how this group of people can get involved in such work are also discussed.

Combining the habituation of people with severe learning difficulties with computer technology in the form of a game, and framing the whole process as a fine art undertaking, to win the public recognition, is a novelty in addressing the needs of these people.

The arts and health agenda has experienced considerable expansion in the UK in recent years, against a backdrop of increasing social inequality and rising incidence of mental health problems. This paper explores the role of community arts in combating social and mental health inequalities as exemplified by one particular project, Art in Mind, in Nottingham, which is funded by England's New Deal for Communities programme and is designed to promote mental health. In describing Art in Mind's conceptualisation and implementation, attention is given to the importance of developing community networks that are designed to build social capital for participating groups and individuals, in order to combat health and social inequalities.

The occurrences of natural hazards in Southeast Asia have become not only more frequent but their severity has also intensified. More than 200,000 persons perished from the 2004 tsunami resulting from the 9.1 magnitude earthquake in coastal Sumatra, Indonesia, which was the third strongest since 1900. A record-breaking typhoon internationally named Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) ravaged Central Philippines in 2013. Failure of the communities, as well as the countries, to cope with the hazards has led to disasters that have compelled them to seek external assistance, especially internationally. In the 2004 and 2013 disasters referred to, one specific form of assistance was the conduct of art therapy especially for children. This chapter surveys the literature and examines why and how art therapy has been used in disasters in the region, and which areas either need further exploration or research.

This paper aims to describe service user experiences of an art psychotherapy group which drew on occupational therapy perspectives to help adults with severe and enduring mental health difficulties move forward in their recovery.

A case study approach incorporating outcome data was used. The data gathered comprised attendance, facilitators’ clinical notes, photographs of participant artworks, the Psychological Outcome Profiles questionnaire (PSYCHLOPS: www.psychlops.org), a post-therapy feedback form, discussion at post-therapy individual review sessions and participants’ achievements post-group.

All but one participant scored the group as “very helpful” or “helpful” and all felt that the group had helped them with the personal aims they had identified. The PSYCHLOPS questionnaire yielded a large average effect size, indicating positive change in terms of problems, functioning and well-being. Participants identified several ways in which the group was helpful, and their artwork and reflections indicate how they used the art making in the group to pursue their recovery goals. The service user experiences and outcomes suggest that this group was effective in facilitating recovery for these adults with severe and enduring mental health difficulties.

This group was innovative in integrating approaches from the different professional specialisms and the findings encourage further investigation into this way of working.

This chapter begins with a brief journey through the history of art in order to point out art serves both social and psychological functions and how it is tinged by civilizational and historical context by accumulating layers of purposes and sense from the past times and diverse mind frames. Art produced in the first quarter of the twenty-first century has absorbed the late trends of the twentieth century and has traced and reinforced some paths, especially those in connection to economy (art as a valuable market product) and society (art as statement, critical posture and participatory citizenship). The chapter brings together these ideas with examples showing, on one side, the economic connection of art to the market and mass consumption, while other projects, on the other side, include a politicized facet and activism through self and collective curatorship, participatory art and glocalization of its matters of interest, audiences and social impact.