Shaun McNiff Books

The field of art therapy is discovering that artistic expression can be a powerful means of personal transformation and emotional and spiritual healing. In this book, Shaun McNiff, a leader in expressive arts therapy for more than three decades, reflects on a wide spectrum of activities aimed at reviving art's traditional healing function. In chapters ranging from "Liberating Creativity" and "The Practice of Creativity in the Workplace" to "From Shamanism to Art Therapy," he illuminates some of the most progressive views in the rapidly expanding field of art therapy:    •  The "practice of imagination" as a powerful force for transformation    •  A challenge to literal-minded psychological interpretations of artworks ("black colors indicate depression") and the principle that even disturbing images have inherent healing properties    •  The role of the therapist in promoting an environment conducive to free expression and therapeutic energies    •  The healing effects of group work, with people creating alongside one another and interacting in the studio    •  "Total expression," combining arts such as movement, storytelling, and drumming with painting and drawing

A pioneering art therapist extolls the arts as a powerful tool in psychotherapy, describing how activating the imagination can heal the mind, heart, and soulThe medicine of the artist, like that of the shaman, arises from his or her relationship to “familiars”—the themes, methods, and materials that interact with the artist through the creative process.  “Whenever illness is associated with loss of soul,” writes Shaun McNiff, “the arts emerge spontaneously as remedies, soul medicine.” Art as Medicine demonstrates how the imagination heals and renews itself through this natural process. Author Shaun McNiff describes his pioneering methods of art therapy—including interpretation through performance and storytelling, creative collaboration, and dialoguing with images—and the ways in which they can revitalize both psychotherapy and art itself.

Whether in painting, poetry, performance, music, dance, or life, there is an intelligence working in every situation. This force is the primary carrier of creation.If we trust it and follow its natural movement, it will astound us with its ability to find a way through problems--and even make creative use of our mistakes and failures.There is a magic to this process that cannot be controlled by the ego. Somehow it always finds the way to the place where you need to be, and a destination you never could have known in advance.When everything seems as if it is hopeless and going nowhere . . . trust the process.