News and Events

The Art Therapy Program’s annual excellence awards honor graduates for their commitment to equity, outstanding research, and dedication to liberatory practices. The 2025 recipients are Shannon Garcia, G. Cheney, K. Blackwell, and Kelsey Filosi.

Beginning in 2026, HB 3761 will expand access to Art Therapy for Oregonians on Medicaid/Oregon Health Plan, helping to ensure that the people with the greatest need have increased access to effective mental health care.

We invite you to participate in a meaningful dialogue on Wednesday, May 28, focused on understanding the impact of gun violence on all of us. This important event will be held at the Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center Art Therapy Gallery and Art Studio in partnership with the Art for Social Change and Vision Quilt exhibit on display through November 2025.

Students in the course “Gender and Aesthetic Expression” share their takes on visual culture, 50+ years after the publication of John Berger’s influential Ways of Seeing.

In their 2025 capstone presentations and gallery installation, Metamorphic, art therapy pre-professionals in their final year of the program explore the connection between their artist self and art therapist identity. The students will present their work on April 7 and April 14, both online and in South Chapel on the graduate campus.

The Lewis & Clark Art Therapy program has released a self-reflective, 22-minute documentary film exploring the program’s expansion into the Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center and discussing the benefits that the new space has to offer to both graduate students and community members alike.

We are excited to finally celebrate the expansion of the new exhibition space, digital media lab, treatment rooms and large community studio for the Art Therapy program at Lewis & Clark! To honor this historic moment and expansion we are showcasing artwork from our community members in a collective show entitled WE ARE HERE: Art Therapy Exhibition. This exhibit features artwork from our current art therapy students, alumni, supervisors, and art therapy faculty.

Lewis & Clark’s newly expanded Community Counseling Center serves as a training ground for counseling students and a thriving mental health resource for Portland.

Three newly graduated art therapy students received special awards from the program honoring their mission-driven work or their contribution to expanding the field of art therapy through research.

Sneak peek! Take an inside look at the expanding Community Counseling Center.

The three inaugural awards were given in the following categories: Commitment to Equity & Access; Liberatory Community Engagement; and Art Therapy Research.

Graduate School Art Therapy instructor and film director, BA Short, says the documentary challenges the notion of beauty and what it means to be beautiful, and centers on the lived experience of adults who live with disabilities.

Check out the work of ART327: Useful Art in the Watzek Library!  Now through mid-December.