The purpose of this study was to investigate how nature-inspired art education might foster a sense of connectedness and collaboration in adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (hereinafter knows as ASD) in a day program. While many studies have uncovered such beneficial art education for children with ASD, there has been little research attempted…

The purpose of this study was to determine how trauma-informed approaches in an urban elementary school art room can foster empowerment in students who have been exposed to trauma and have developed Emotional and/or Behavioral Disorders. I implemented a pedagogy focused on promoting empowerment through art making, then collected data on the…

The purpose of this study was to explore the anxiety and stress-reducing effects of drawing, using different drawing materials by promoting the development of student confidence. The drawing activities were designed to foster the exploration of identity, emotion, and sense of self, while encouraging the exploration of materials and mark making.…

This study was designed to understand the potential for gained Executive Functioning through an Art Education learning environment by students whom experience a Specific Learning Disability at the High School Level. The author actualizes a limited case study of three students to understand if students whom experience Specific Learning Disabilities…

This thesis is an art-based research video demonstration of an alternate medium for art therapy. It postulates the value and validity of media arts as a therapeutic modality by way of adopting the major motion picture green screening technique for therapy with an at-risk youth population. Four male participants, raging from 16 to 19 years of age,…

The paper reviews literature pertaining to art and art therapy for persons with severe handicaps. Following a definition of terms (including disability terms), a distinction is made between art education and art therapy. Chapter 2 presents an historical overview on art education for the handicapped, beginning with the influences of Maria…

A qualitative research study documents the progress of an adult male art student enrolled in a grade nine art class of adult males in a federal, maximum security penitentiary. Analog drawings were used as part of the curriculum. An analog drawing is a symbolic drawing expressing one's emotions, ideas, and feelings, often used to identify and help…

The visual arts lend themselves naturally to contemplation of self. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of art therapy in increasing self-awareness of participants in an art therapy class are examined. The independent variables under consideration were participation status, university classification, type of instruction, and…