New Developments in Expressive Arts Therapy: The Play of Poiesis

This collection reflects on the theory and application of expressive arts today in therapy, education, research and social and ecological change.

Bringing the understanding of expressive arts into its contemporary theoretical framework, the book reveals the expansion of the field from its initial focus on therapy alone into a diverse range of other areas of interest to therapists, educators, researchers and those interested in working for social and ecological change. The book also contains a selection of discursive writing, poetry and visual art, highlighting the importance of keeping artistic creativity at the heart of the field.

With contributions from pioneering arts therapists, this will be vital reading for arts therapists and students in the field today.

Stephen K. Levine is Professor Emeritus of Social Science at York University in Toronto, Canada, Vice-Provost and Dean of the Doctoral Program in Expressive Arts Therapy: Education, Consulting and Social Change at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, and Co-Director of ISIS Canada.

Herbert Eberhart, Ph.D., is a social worker and clinical psychologist. He worked for 25 years as a Senior Professor at the Zurich School of Social Work, and he teaches at several higher education institutions, including the European Graduate School in Switzerland.

Shaun McNiff PhD, ATR is the Provost and Dean of Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts. An internationally-renowned figure in the creative arts therapies, he has written many critically-acclaimed books including Art as Medicine: Creating a Therapy of the Imagination,Educating the Creative Arts Therapist and Depth Psychology of Art. Dr McNiff has been honoured on many occasions for his pioneering contributions to the creative arts therapy field, and he is the 1997 recipient of the America Art Therapy Association's Honorary Life Member Award.