What Is Expressive Arts Therapy?

Letting the Image Speak—and Following Where It Leads

What happens when you stop trying to understand your experience—and instead, begin to express it in a:

• line on a page

• movement in the body

• feeling that takes shape before it has words

There are moments when we find ourselves stuck in our thoughts—thinking and rethinking—trying to make sense of something, yet feeling disconnected from the experience itself.

In The Creative Connection (1997), Natalie Rogers describes expressive arts therapy (EXAT) as a process that uses movement, drawing, writing, sound, and other creative forms to support healing and self-discovery. The focus is not on the final product, but on expression—allowing something internal to take shape outside of us.

It is not about making good art. It is about making contact.

The Image Is Something We Listen To

When an image is created in therapy—a drawing, a collage, even a simple mark—it is not something to judge or interpret.

It is something to listen to.

The arts offer access to emotional experience in ways words alone cannot. Through creating, we begin to see and feel parts of ourselves that may not yet have language (Rogers, 1997).

But expressive arts therapy does not stop at creating the image.

From Interpretation to Relationship

A shift happens when we move from analyzing an image to being in relationship with it. As described in the work of Shaun McNiff (2004), instead of asking, “What does this mean?”, we begin to ask:

• What are you feeling?• What do you need?• What are you not saying?

The image becomes something we can speak with—and sometimes even speak as.

This movement away from interpretation and into dialogue allows the image to become active and responsive, often revealing insights that would not emerge through analysis alone.

Following the Process (Not Controlling It)

In expressive arts therapy, we don’t stay in one form.

• An image may lead to movement

• Movement may lead to writing

• Writing may return to image

• 
  

Moving between modalities deepens the process, allowing something new—often outside of conscious awareness—to emerge. Rogers describes this intermodal flow as a way of accessing deeper layers of experience through the creative process.

We are not directing the process. We are following it.

Sitting With the Image

This is where the process slows down.

After creating, we don’t rush to explain or make meaning. We sit with the image. We notice what we see before deciding what it is. We pay attention to what we feel.

In the Open Studio Process, Allen (1995) emphasizes beginning with simple observation—“I see…”—rather than moving too quickly into interpretation. Writing becomes a way of staying with the image, allowing space for response, reflection, or even silence.

Sometimes the image speaks. Sometimes it doesn’t. Both are part of the process.

Over time, this practice of noticing and returning allows the image to unfold in its own way, rather than being defined too quickly.

Why We Don’t Interpret or Fix

Across these approaches, one principle remains consistent:

• We do not rush to explain the image

• We do not correct it

• We do not turn it into a diagnosis

Instead, we witness.

Witnessing, as described by McNiff (2004), involves sharing what we experience in the presence of the art rather than assigning meaning to it. Allen (1995) extends this by encouraging space where the creator remains fully in their own experience, without interruption or outside interpretation.

This kind of environment—grounded in acceptance and empathy—is what allows creativity and healing to emerge, a foundation emphasized throughout Rogers’ work.

The Body as Part of the Process

Expressive arts therapy also includes the body.

Creativity does not come from the mind alone—it emerges through the integration of body, emotions, and inner experience. When movement is included, we are no longer just thinking about a feeling—we are experiencing it directly, something Rogers highlights as essential to the process.

An image might invite movement → movement may shift the emotional experience → writing afterward may bring new understanding

The process unfolds across forms, each one deepening the next—letting the image speak and following where it leads, as the experience continues to evolve.

A Different Way of Understanding Ourselves

Expressive arts therapy offers an alternative to trying to “figure ourselves out. ”So often, we find ourselves thinking and rethinking—circling the same thoughts without resolution, staying in the mind without ever moving through the experience.

Instead of analyzing from a distance—staying in our thinking mind—we begin to:

• create

• respond

• move

• write• and listen

Over time, the image becomes more than expression—it becomes something we are in relationship with.

And sometimes, the most important question we can ask of the image is not: “What does this mean?”

But: “What is this trying to say?”

This approach to expressive arts therapy is at the heart of the work I offer with clients in Texas and clinicians across the country, supporting both personal exploration and the development of intermodal, process-based practice.

Sources & Influences

Rogers, N. (1993). The Creative Connection: Expressive Arts as Healing

McNiff, S. (2004). Art Heals

Allen, P. B. (1995). Art Is a Way of Knowing