Art Therapy Students Expand Their Horizons with Study Abroad in Florence

Graduate students worked with clients including children, the elderly, and adults with disabilities.

Art projects of birds, flowers, and bugs on the wall — Student art projects at P.A.M.A.P.I.

Second-year students from NYU Steinhardt’s MA in Art Therapy program spent two weeks this summer in Florence, Italy, putting their skills to work during clinical placements with real-world clients.

“This was an incredible opportunity, and one that I didn’t think I would be able to take advantage of,” says student Christie Kim, who worked with nonverbal adults with intellectual disabilities at P.A.M.A.P.I. Centro Abilitativo Per Disturbi Di Spettro Autistico with fellow student Rebecka Dionne. “It was a great chance to further expand my horizons both in the sense of what populations I might want to work with after I graduate, and because it was my first trip to Europe.”

Students were given the opportunity to choose the site they were most interested in, including local school children, young adult Ukrainian refugees, and immigrant and marginalized women. Regardless of placement, students worked with faculty ahead of their trip to prepare for this professional experience in a new culture.

Elderly people sit at tables as a student holds their hands — Art Therapy graduate student Franki DeSaro interacts with participants at Misericordia di Rifredi.

“Before our trip, we focused a lot on the importance of cultural humility when working across cultures,” says Marygrace Berberian, clinical associate professor of art therapy. “A bottom-up approach was promoted, whereby the clinician works from the ground up, listening and observing the community to build upwards through wholly informed interventions.”

“As a person of color who also identifies as non-binary, I’m a minority in multiple spaces, including the world of art therapy,” says Christie. “It was so eye-opening to see how the arts are handled in different societies with different modes and expressions and comfort levels. It has made me interested in doing more research on art therapy as an effective modality for healing, especially in non-western cultures.”

Students Jasleen Nijjar, Ruby Phan, and Franki DeSaro facilitated art therapy groups for the participants of Misericordia di Rifredi, a daycare program for older adults with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia. They collaborated with the center’s faculty to focus on participant strengths, a key benefit of art therapy practices, and creating sensory engagement activities with natural objects like rocks and sand to invoke memories through touch, smell, and sound.

A group of people poses for the photo on the street — The study abroad group in Florence

“There was something really magical about working with this population, and it really brought home for me that being an art therapist is about helping people,” says Ruby. “After we returned from Florence, we wrote reflections on our experience, and I realized that art therapy with our clients wasn’t necessarily about getting better but feeling seen and being with them for these authentic expressions.”

“I also really appreciated how integrated the trip was into our degree,” says Jasleen. “Not only did we earn class credit, but we also were given them to foster our artistic sides in addition to our clinical ones. They took us to art museums, we learned how to make marbleized paper, and thought about the classics of creating. I enjoyed that time to be ‘artist me’ again.”

Students and instructors sit at a classroom table — International Catholic Association at the Service of Youth (ACISJF) participants work on art projects.

Students also discussed their delight at the chance to gently encourage their clients to do more than they—and sometimes even the professional staff at their placement site—thought they could do. For example, P.A.M.A.P.I. staff were astounded at many of their participants’ sustained engagement in the art-making process, as well as their ability to maintain emotional regulation thanks to the compassion and insightful care of the graduate interns.

“What’s so cool about art therapy is you give people opportunities to recognize something about themselves when lots of people—including themselves—might be denying them that chance,” says Rebecka.

Learn more about and apply to NYU Steinhardt’s MA in Art Therapy today.