Page 122 - journal-6-1-Full

ÒÒÚ «“√ “√°“√·æ∑¬å·ºπ‰∑¬·≈–°“√·æ∑¬å∑“߇≈◊Õ° ªï∑’Ë ˆ©∫—∫∑’Ë Ò ¡°√“§¡-‡¡…“¬π ÚııÒ

Abstract
Art Therapy in Thailand
Lertsiri Bovornkitti*, Somjit Kraisree**
*Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Burapha University, Chonburi, **Rajanukul Institute, Department of Mental
Health, Ministry of Public Health

Dr. Nolan D. C. Lewis, a psychiatrist at New York University started “Art Therapy” in the United
States in 1924. His student, Margaret Nuamburg, continued the practice in the field, coining the term in 1957.
The implementation of art in psychiatric practice, called “art in psychotherapy”, has been contradicted by a
prominent art therapist, Edith Kramer, who named her practice as “art as therapy”, which considers the art
component to be as powerful as the therapy itself. Art therapists in the United States are professionals (ATR)
in both “art” and “therapy” and hold a degree in art therapy; their credentials are provided through the
American Art Therapy Credentials Board Examination (ATCB).
Art therapy in Thailand has been known since 1986; it is very likely that Somsree Kittipongpisal was the
person who first mentioned art therapy in her book, but the actual enhancement of the field followed the
conference on “An Introductory Course on Art Therapy”, held in Bangkok in 2006, organized by a collabora-
tive group of artists and psychiatrists after the tsunami disaster in southern Thailand. Currently, art therapy
practice has gained wider practice as the psychiatric staff of the Department of Mental Health at Rajanukul
Institute of the Ministry of Public Health have been practicing art therapy among autistic children. The
Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University, has applied “art for all” for treating disabled
persons. The Faculty of Fine Arts, Srinakarinwirot University has been working with a community develop-
ment scheme for children, and Burapha University has erected the Asia Pacific Art Therapy Center, incorpo-
rating the Faculty of Nursing, Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Faculty of Public Health and Faculty of
Medicine. Recently, the first author of this paper published his research work on art therapy for natural
disaster victims.
The authors suggest further activities for sustaining the development of art therapy in Thailand as fol-
lows;
1. Consortium of art therapy centers/units among practitioners and academics from both the state
and private sector;
2. Short course training, seminar and workshops;
3. Research on art therapy:
- Evaluation of the effectiveness of art therapy evaluation by comparing results between psycho-
therapy and art;
- Studies on the efficacy of art therapy.
4. Establishing an educational program to produce efficient Thai art therapists;
5. Erecting an authorized national center to supervise art therapy practice in Thailand, i.e., setting
up a Thai art therapy credentials board.
Key words: art therapy, Thailand