Date of Award
5-10-2026
Date Published
June 2026
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Arts Therapy
Advisor(s)
Emily Nolan
Second Advisor
Rochele Royster
Keywords
accessibility;art therapy;community art therapy;eco-art therapy;materiality;sustainability
Abstract
Community art therapy offers opportunities to address inequities in access to therapeutic services by locating creative practices within shared, non-clinical spaces, and using nontraditional and everyday materials. This qualitative phenomenological study examined how community-based eco-art therapy, using found, foraged, recycled, and low-cost materials in a community studio, shapes participants’ experiences of accessibility, connection, and creativity. Eight adult participants attended two community-based workshops that included open-ended artmaking, a mindfulness-oriented material walk, and individual semi-structured interviews with response art. Data from interviews, field notes, and artworks were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings indicated that participants conceptualized accessibility as multi-dimensional, encompassing cost, transportation, relational support, and the emotional tone of the spaces, and contrasted the scarcity and strain of institutional mental health services with the attuned presence experienced in the workshops. Every day and nontraditional materials reduced performance pressure, invited playful, meditative engagement, and expanded participants’ awareness of creative possibilities within their environments. Participants also envisioned informal, community-based models of care, such as open studios, school or home-based offerings, as complements to traditional therapy. The study suggests that eco-art therapy informed practices grounded in ecological and community-based frameworks can create possibilities for accessibility by situating care within shared and materially sustainable third spaces.
Access
Open Access
Recommended Citation
Mahoney, M, "Community Art Therapy: Opportunities of Accessibility in Spaces and Materials" (2026). Theses - ALL. 1008.
https://surface.syr.edu/thesis/1008
