Creative Art Therapy in a Community's Participatory Research and Social Transformation

Social Action in Practice: Shifting the Ethnocentric Lens in Cross-Cultural Art Therapy Encounters

“…In mental health terms the "identified client" is not the girl and Marta does not imagine stepping into the role of expert when there are caring adults already involved. Rather, the "client" is the entire community (Kapitan, Litell, & Torres, 2011) and Marta will proceed accordingly, aware that cultural and social resources might help strengthen the group such that it can care for its most vulnerable members.…”

Poetics of Justice: Using Art as Action and Analysis in Participatory Action Research

“…Similar to a study by Ruglis' (2011), which linked health outcomes to school policies through participant x-ray mapping of their bodies, this example illustrates the impact of such policy changes on student bodies and minds -the physical and psychological toll recounted in lyrical form. Linkages, such as the one between health and education policy, can be facilitated in part by the creative processes involved in art making (Kapitan et al, 2011).…”

“…As we choreographed and danced we counted…1,2,3 step back, adjust, step together, pause 5,6,7. At the time, we did not include our dance lesson as an embodied method, although others have used dance in this fashion (Fine, et al, 2004;Kapitan et al, 2011;Roberts, 2013). Rather, our intention was to offer a space where the researchers could connect with one another, and to vary the nature of the day's activities so that we were not only making space for thinking work, but also for body work and play (Fox, 2012;Garcia, 2012;Rivera et al, 2010).…”

“…Using the physical body, the visual world, the spiritual, to express, process and analyze research findings can represent moves towards restorative actions (Kapitan, Litell, & Torres, 2011;Lara, 2002;Lykes, 2013;Rivera, et al, 2010;Roberts, 2013). We explore the role of art as an analytic tool, an expression of resistance and social critique, and part of a collective meaning-making (Fox, 2015) process in the context of a participatory action research (PAR) project.…”

Altered Inquiry: Discovering Arts-Based Research through an Altered Book

“…She later proclaimed ABR "a methodology for radical, ethical, and revolutionary research that is futuristic, socially responsible, and useful in addressing social inequities" (Finley, 2008, p. 71). Like art therapists (Allen, 2011;Kapitan, Litell, & Torres, 2011), she called for the possibility and production of social justice through a democratization of the arts. The strong thread of feminist, critical, and transformative praxis was not lost on me.…”