History

The George Washington University (GW) Art Therapy Program, one of the first to be accredited by the American Art Therapy Association, was established in 1971 based on the teachings by the founders of art therapy—Edith Kramer, Hanna Yaxa Kwiatkowska, Bernard Levy and Elinor Ulman. All of the program’s current faculty are registered, board certified art therapists who bring with them professional expertise and the latest in clinical practice and research.

In 1971, Dr. Bernard Levy, Professor of Psychology at GW, 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.

In 2008, the program moved to a new state of the art facility that includes: dedicated technological studio classrooms; art therapy gallery; on-site open art studio space, program library, student computer lab, and art therapy clinic (community clinic with video and sound capabilities, three rooms with monitoring space).

The GW Art Therapy Program has grown to include five full-time faculty, which includes a director, two research faculty, clinical placement coordinator, and clinic director. In addition, the program employs a full-time executive assistant and 22 adjunct part-time faculty (approximately 10 in any given semester). We have over 100 internship placements with a wide variety of populations. The current student body is approximately 28 students each year and we have graduated approximately 700 students since the formation of the program.