Welcome

In order to take art therapy to future generations, we must be open to new image making and creative tools. The computer is one of the most prominent art mediums of today's society. Today many school systems, after school programs, and hospitals have incorporated computers into their creative spaces. Children and adolescents are learning to express themselves through the digital medium. As art therapists, we cannot ignore computers as an art making and creative tool, but we also must not expect the work to be therapeutic simply by introducing a client to the computer's creativity software. Barbara Parker-Bell (1999) explained, "No art tool - including the computer - suits all needs or situations, but most can be used well in a therapeutic context if the therapist knows the properties and potentials they hold" (p. 184).

Online Resources

by Sairalyn on September 22, 2010

Digital | Computer Art Therapy

http://gingerpoole.com/index.php

Photo Therapy:

http://www.phototherapy-centre.com/home.htm

Video Art:

http://www.videoart.net/home/index.cfm

more coming soon…

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Penelope P. Orr, Ph.D, ATR-BC

September 22, 2010

Her work using The Sims virtual environment for role play scenarios coming soon…

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Judy Weiser, R.Psych., A.T.R.

September 22, 2010

coming soon…

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Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC

September 22, 2010

coming soon…

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Glossary

September 15, 2010

application: a computer program that performs useful work not related to the computer itself. Examples include word processors, spreadsheets, art and music programs. bitmap: a binary representation in which a bit or set of bits corresponds to some part of an object such as an image or font. A bitmap is usually associated with graphics [...]

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Articles

September 15, 2010

McNiff, S. (1999). “The Virtual Art Therapy Studio.” Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 16(4), 197-200. Canter, D. S. (1987). “The Therapeutic Effects of Combining Apple Macintosh Computers and Creativity Software in Art Therapy Sessions.” Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, 4(1), 17-26. Freedman, K. (1989). “Microcomputers and the [...]

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Books

September 15, 2010

Canter, D. S. (1989). “Art therapy and computers.” In H. Wadeson, J. Durkin, & D. Perach (Eds.), Advances in Art Therapy (pp. 296-316). New York: Wiley. Johnson, R. G. (2002). “High Tech Play Therapy.” In C. E. Schaefer & D. Cangelosi (Eds.), Play Therapy Techniques (2nd ed., pp. 365-371). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc. Malchiodi, [...]

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Adobe Photoshop

September 15, 2010

Photoshop is the market leader for commercial bitmap image manipulation but has the disadvantage of a high price. This has allowed competing programs such as Jasc Software’s Paint Shop Pro to become popular. To capture this lost market share, Adobe has introduced a much less expensive program called Photoshop Elements that consists of Photoshop minus [...]

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Cosmic Blobs

September 15, 2010

Created by Dassault Systèmes, a world leader in the development of 3D design software, Cosmic Blobs may be the most powerful 3D graphics software ever invented for kids. Recommended for children ages 7 to 14, the program allows the user to quickly design and build high quality 3D creations. Although the interface is childlike, resembling [...]

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Haptek People Putty

September 15, 2010

People Putty is a tool that allows you to make your very own interactive 3D talking head by altering the pre-made faces and shapes available in the program, or by loading an image from your digital camera, scanner or hard drive. In the Texture palette, you can add wrinkles, makeup, hair, change teeth, eyes, as [...]

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Flying Colors

September 15, 2010

Primarily a stamp and draw application, Flying Colors is advertised to be appropriate for ages 8 through adult. While the savvy computer artist might find this program too childlike, the available stamps, backgrounds, and vivid moving colors will engage most users. Some of the palettes encompassed within the application are: colors, patterns, gradients, a Stamp [...]

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Kid Pix Studio Deluxe

September 15, 2010

A child oriented painting program, Kid Pix has several applications including drawing, painting, stamp art, slide show production, and animation. The various versions, Kid Pix Studio Deluxe, Kid Pix Studio 3, and Kid Pix Studio 4 can be found online for $3 to $40. Malchiodi (2000) found: The program seems popular with elementary-school-age children and [...]

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Reviewing the Software

September 15, 2010

“Software, like computers, changes frequently, and it is difficult to provide a critique of something that may not be available in a year or two” (Malchiodi, 2000, p. 39). Image processing generally includes retouching or enhancement of photographs, computer vision, and creation of works of art. The programs necessary to execute this type of imaging [...]

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Printers

September 15, 2010

“For most people, choosing a printer entails balancing price, speed, and print quality” (Cekan, n.d., ¶1). Speed is rated by number of pages printed per minute but usually does not include the time it takes the computer to send the job to the printer. The additional features that help determine price and print quality are [...]

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Scanners

September 15, 2010

Most scanners today are variations on the desktop (or flatbed) scanner, which analyzes a physical 2D image (such as a photograph, text document, or handwriting) or an object (such as a relief sculpture) and converts it to a digital image. The features to consider when purchasing a scanner are: optical resolution, color depth, the availability [...]

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