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Art Therapy

Art Therapy

It is hard to find a better example of active art therapy than Frank Warren's PostSecret project. “You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything, as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before.” In 2004, Warren posted these words next to a stack of plain postcards at an art exhibit, unaware that these simple guidelines would lead to a worldwide phenomenon. Response to the initial activity was one thing; however, long after the day was over and Warren returned to his home, people were discussing, and acting upon, his suggestion to anonymously share a secret. Postcards found their way to his mailbox in a steady stream: some humble, some ornate, some scribbled hastily and others painstakingly arranged. After some consideration, Warren began posting some of the secrets to an online site where they could be viewed by others, and collecting a number of them to compile into a book. Confessions ranged from the humorous - “I give decaf to customers who are rude to me“ (116) to the ominous “He's been in prison for two years because of what I did. 9 more to go.” (20), and reactions likewise varied widely. However, the postcards had one thing in common: a sense of commiseration, a feeling that, no matter what a person might be hiding, they are probably not alone. Over the next five years, PostSecret developed into a worldwide support group and online community, and today, along with the dozens of postcards that find their way to Warren daily, it is imitated in smaller local groups everywhere from college dorms to high school hallways. It is exactly this response which is sought after by art therapists worldwide.
Producing art as personal therapy is for many (including countless commercial artists) an unconscious process, where participants hardly assign any relevance to the creative process...