The Science Behind Art Therapy:

Why Creating Art Heals

Last week, we explored how art becomes medicine through our embodied experience. Today, we'll delve into the fascinating neuroscience that helps explain why art therapy can be so effective, drawing from both foundational and current research in the field.

The Creative Brain

As a Registered Art Therapist, I've long observed how art-making can profoundly impact a person's healing journey. For years, art therapists have recognized that creative expression allows people to reframe experiences, reorganize thoughts, and gain personal insights that enhance the quality of life (Konopka, 2014). Now, recent neuroscience research helps us understand these transformations at a biological level, showing how art-making directly engages visual and tactile sensory inputs that integrate with emotion, memory, and cognition (Strang, 2024).