Timeline of GW Art Therapy
1961 |
Elinor Ulman published the first journal devoted to art therapy, the Bulletin of Art Therapy (now the American Journal of Art Therapy). |
1969 |
American Art Therapy Association was founded. Bernard Levy, Elinor Ulman, and Edith Kramer all served as officers of the newly formed organization. |
1971 |
Dr. Bernard Levy, Professor of Psychology at George Washington University, and Elinor Ulman, appointed Assistant Professorial Lecturer, were given approval by GW to start an art therapy program on a one-year's experimental basis. Dr. Levy told the deans that "it will cost you pennies but the rewards will be worth it."
Dr. Levy was the Director of the Program and Elinor Ulman was Coordinator of Clinical Training. There were two part-time faculty, Edith Kramer and Hanna Kwiatkowska; four courses; and ten students.
The program was initially housed in another building and we eventually acquired use of the upstairs and downstairs of 2129 G Street, Building L (back), which is where the Program remains. |
2006 |
The GW Art Therapy Program currently has two full-time faculty, one full-time clinical placement coordinator, one part-time faculty, a full-time executive assistant, and ten adjunct part-time faculty (during any given semester). We have over 100 internship placements with a wide variety of populations. The current student body is approximately 20 students each year and we have graduated over 500 students since the formation of the George Washington University Art Therapy Program. |
Historical Quotes
"I don't know of any job, specifically, for art therapists, but I don't know an art therapist out of work." (excerpt from Dr. Levy's program notes, 1972 )
"I know that Picasso is reserving a special place for you in that big studio in the sky." (excerpt from a 1978 Dr. Levy note to the faculty)
"The American Art Therapy Association would like to formally thank you, Bernard Levy, Edith Kramer, Hanna Kwiatkowska, and Elinor Ulman; for your work in the AATA film, Art Therapy: Beginnings." (excerpt from a 1978 letter from AATA.)
 "It is my great pleasure to inform you about several careers of our students in the Art Therapy Program. Our efforts for practicum placement of students were well rewarded. We have at present close to thirty institutions in the greater Washington area where our students are placed for field work and practicums. Among them are major hospitals and clinics such as: The Washington Naval Medical Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, The George Washington Hospital, Prince George's County Hospital, St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Children's Hospital, Hillcrest Children's Center, Psychiatric Institute, and numerous special schools and community mental health centers such as the Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health. This last center was so pleased with the work of our student, that she was offered a job as an art therapist. Three other of our students have obtained art therapy positions as a result of their practicum performance." (excerpt from letter, 1980, written by Hanna Kwiatkowska, Adjunct Associate Professor, to the Dean of GW Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
"We give special attention to the 'art' of recording and reporting art therapy sessions. If material is concisely and clearly organized, reports have a better chance of being listened to or read by other team members. Good recording also provides invaluable material for future writings and research."
We want to open this opportunity to mature people who have experience in allied fields (and experience in living) and who feel that art therapy can either enhance their skills within their present professions or perhaps open the way to a new profession providing satisfactions they found lacking in their first choice of a career." (excerpt from presentation at annual meeting of AATA, Oct. 1972 by Hanna Kwiatkowska)
"The time is ripe for launching a course of study leading to a master's degree in art therapy for students in the Washington area. In particular, a selection of courses flexible enough to meet the requirements of students talented in art and in dealing with people but who do not fit the conventional academic mold might draw students through scholarship help and from many parts of the country. This is a need which is not, as far as we know, being met elsewhere."(excerpt from proposal for the GW Art Therapy Program, 1970, written by Bernard Levy)
 "Art therapy includes a variety of approaches to art. At one end of the spectrum, art as a means of nonverbal communication in a psychotherapeutic process is stressed. In conjunction with verbal associations and interpretations, art products are used to assist the understanding and working through of emotional problems. At the other end of the range, therapy derives from experience of the artistic process itself. Here, artwork is encouraged for its special psychological value. Its usefulness depends on the age-old power of the arts to reconcile conflicting forces within the individual and between individual and society." (excerpt from the GW Graduate Training Program in Art Therapy, 1980, written by Elinor Ulman)
|
