Photo Art Therapy: A Convergence of Creativity and the Healing Process

Art therapy is a form of psychotherapy that integrates traditional therapeutic techniques with visual creative processes to encourage participants to express feelings, explore experiences, and support emotional healing. Art therapy does not require artistic skill. Instead, the process focuses on helping clients achieve their therapeutic goals. Art therapy can be beneficial for people of all ages and abilities, in both individual and group settings.

Photo art therapy uses photography as its primary creative medium. Individuals may take, collect, or alter photographs to explore emotions, memories, or beliefs. Images can facilitate the expression of complex ideas—especially when words are hard to find. Art therapists are licensed professionals with master’s degrees who have studied counseling, psychology, and art therapy. They are trained to work in many settings, including schools, hospitals, clinics, and private practices. Students, professors, and graduates of the Nazareth University Graduate Art Therapy program collaborated on planning this exhibition and have created the works on display. Works by clients were not included in the display to ensure their rights to confidentiality and privacy. Included with each work is a statement by the maker about the meaning behind the work and how it might be used in the art therapy process. A goal of the exhibition is that viewers will gain a deeper understanding of art therapy and the broader mental health journey.

About the Nazareth University Graduate Art Therapy Program and Creative Art Therapy Clinic Founded in the early 1990s, the Nazareth University Graduate Art Therapy Program offers a
professional degree in art therapy, an undergraduate minor, and classes, as well as graduate training through the Creative Art Therapy Clinic at the York Wellness and Rehabilitation Institute on the Nazareth University Campus.

The Nazareth University Creative Art Therapy Clinic serves thousands of community members
annually. Graduate students in the Creative Arts Therapy Program provide art therapy services at the Clinic. Through their work, students learn to collaborate effectively, solve problems, and gain professional experience by applying clinical therapies in their work with their clients. All services are supervised by board-certified, licensed, and registered art therapists who are part of the Nazareth Faculty. We thank our clients for the opportunity to work with them and for allowing us to witness their personal journeys.

To learn more about the program or the clinic’s services, visit
naz.edu/york-wellness-rehabilitation-institute/clinic-care/art-therapy

2025 Gallery Obscura programming generously sponsored by ESL.

With generous exhibition support provided by 7Crest Financial Partners.

About Gallery Obscura

The museum's community gallery, the Gallery Obscura, features exhibitions created or presented in collaboration with community institutions and school and youth programs, projects focused on Greater Rochester, and exhibitions from the collections that are thematically related to regional events or that support other museum initiatives and programming.

Exhibition Proposal Submissions 

Please submit exhibition proposals for the Gallery Obscura to [email protected]. Proposals should briefly describe the project and include 6-10 sample images or links to moving media content. Because of the structure of exhibition scheduling, not all proposals can be considered. Single-artist and artist-organized exhibitions will not be considered.