Art Therapy Beyond Words: Healing Through Creative Expression

Agatha Vieira
1 day ago
6 min read

We often imagine healing as something that happens only through words: sitting, explaining, answering questions, reflecting. But sometimes, it begins elsewhere — in colour, in texture, in images that know what we feel before we do. This is where art therapy begins.

When people hear about art therapy, the first thing they usually ask is:

“But… do I need to know how to draw?”

It’s a small question, but it carries something big — fear of doing it wrong, fear of being judged, fear of not being “creative enough.”

Art therapy gently dissolves all of that.

What I’ve learned — both personally and professionally — is this: Art therapy is not about talent. It’s about being human.

It’s not about what you make. It’s about what moves when you make it.

A vibrant paper collage of a butterfly, adorned with colorful tissue paper pieces and surrounded by shimmering star stickers, held against a rustic brick wall background.

So, what exactly is Art Therapy?

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that uses visual art-making like drawing, painting, collage, sculpture — as a way to explore emotions, memories and inner experiences.

It happens within a safe, confidential relationship with a trained art therapist.

Sometimes words come easily. Sometimes they don’t come at all. Art therapy offers another language — one that doesn’t ask you to explain or justify what you feel.

As art therapist Edith Kramer described, art allows emotions to take form without overwhelming the person experiencing them(Art as Therapy).

In art therapy, the image speaks first. Reflection comes later.

An ancient human impulse

Long before art therapy became a profession, humans were already using images to survive, to remember and to heal.

From cave paintings to religious icons, from ritual masks to symbolic objects, creativity has always helped us make sense of life — especially when words fall short.

In the 1940s, British artist Adrian Hill coined the term art therapy while recovering from tuberculosis. He noticed that drawing helped him cope emotionally with illness and isolation. Around the same time, psychologists and psychiatrists began recognising that images could express unconscious material — particularly in children and people who struggled to verbalise their experiences.

In Europe and the UK, art therapy developed strong psychodynamic roots and is now supported by professional bodies such as the British Association of Art Therapists (BAAT) and the European Federation of Art Therapy (EFAT).

But one of the most powerful stories of art as healing that I know and love, comes from Brazil.

Nise da Silveira: when art became an act of respect

In mid-20th-century Brazil, psychiatrist Nise da Silveira challenged everything that psychiatric care looked like at the time.

While electroshock therapy, restraint and isolation were common, Nise chose another path. She opened studios inside psychiatric hospitals and offered patients paint, clay and space.

She didn’t see images as symptoms to be corrected, but as meaningful expressions of the inner world.

Influenced by Carl Jung, she believed that when people were met with love, dignity and curiosity, creativity could reconnect them to life. Her work led to the creation of the Museum of Images of the Unconscious in Rio de Janeiro — a living archive of art made in conditions of deep vulnerability.

Although Nise da Silveira is still not widely referenced in European art therapy training, her philosophy lives at the heart of the practice: respect, listening and trust in expression.

How I found Art Therapy or how Art Therapy found me

For me, art therapy arrived during a period of deep internal change.

The year 2025 was a turning point. I began to feel uncomfortable with my reality — including my career path. I was studying emotional wounds, temperaments and personal development since 2022, trying to understand myself more honestly. And somewhere in that search, art therapy appeared.

I didn’t jump in immediately. I researched. I wanted to understand what it really meant before committing to a master’s degree — a necessary step to practise clinically.

Then I(or the algorithm) found one course. Reading about it gave me chills. A clear yes in my body. There was only one “problem”: it was in another country. Due to certain circumstances, my mind protested saying things like: "too complicated at the moment", "not now", "maybe later". But something deeper said: "go!"

So I did. And I am so glad I gave myself this chance. ❤️

Barcelona: Where Everything Clicked

In July last year, I travelled to Barcelona to attend an introductory art therapy course at Metà fora. What I experienced there changed me.

Art therapy wasn’t about making something beautiful. It was raw, honest, alive. It was the subconscious speaking through colour, gesture and form.

We created, reflected and shared. And I felt — in my own healing journey — that when we express, we heal. And when we reflect on what we express, we grow.

We learned from real case studies, on the impact of art therapy sessions with autistic children to elderly people living with Alzheimer’s.

We had hands on workshops and created together. When presenting the work, each image was received with care and respect. No right or wrong. Only truth. At one point, I remembered design school — a teacher tearing a student’s work in front of the entire class 💔 In art therapy was the opposite. It was care and sensitivity. Honour for what came from inside each person.

From Experience to Path

After returning from Barcelona, the decision was clear, I had to continue this learning path. I am now a postgraduate student in art therapy at Metàfora. The journey to becoming a qualified art therapist will still take me some years but the impact of what I have been learning has already been profound.

Art therapy has transformed the way I create, teach and guide others. It has become an essential part of my own healing journey and a lens through which I see creativity not as performance, but as care.

This perspective will be present in every class, mentorship, conversation and project I offer from now on.

Art Therapy vs. “Art Is Therapeutic”

At this point, a common question naturally arises.

If art can already feel healing… what makes art therapy different?

Yes, art-making can absolutely be therapeutic. Drawing, painting, journaling or crafting can calm the nervous system, offer relief and create moments of connection with oneself.

Art therapy, however, is more than the act of making.

The difference lies in the therapeutic relationship, the ethical responsibility of the therapist, and the emotional containment that allows deeper material to emerge safely. Art therapy is held within a professional framework, where care, boundaries and reflection matter just as much as creativity.

Images are not analysed or interpreted from the outside. Meaning is explored slowly, collaboratively, and always in dialogue with the person who created them.

Who Is Art Therapy For?

Another question often follows: Is art therapy only for a specific type of person?

The simple answer is no. There is no “typical” art therapy client.

Art therapy is practiced with children, adults and older people; with neurodivergent individuals; with people who have experienced trauma, migration or loss; and with creatives navigating burnout, self-doubt or a loss of direction.

You don’t need to be artistic. You don’t need to know what to say. You only need a willingness to show up — just as you are.

Why Space and Materials Matter

Art Therapy place within a carefully held environment. The consistency of time, space and materials creates a sense of safety — and safety is what allows deeper emotions to surface without overwhelming daily life.

The room itself becomes a container.

And within that space, materials speak their own language.

pencils often offer control and precision
paint tends to invite emotion and movement
clay grounds the body and connects us to sensation
collage allows fragmentation, play and reconstruction

Often, the material a person chooses already carries information — long before words arrive.

A Quiet Invitation

Art therapy reminds us that healing doesn’t have to be loud, dramatic or perfect.

Sometimes it begins with a mark. Sometimes with colour. Sometimes with permission to simply be.

And often, that quiet beginning is not an ending — but an opening. An opening into deeper listening, gentler self‑understanding, and a more honest relationship with creativity.

If this way of working speaks to you — whether out of curiosity, personal healing, or a desire to support others — I invite you to stay close. Through my creative work, mentorships and studies in art therapy, I’m learning how to create spaces where expression is met with care, not judgement.

You don’t need answers to begin. You only need the willingness to take the first step. What would it feel like to take one small step toward creative expression, simply to see what unfolds?