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Art Therapy in Asia

Art Therapy in Asia

To the Bone or Wrapped in Silk

Edited by Debra Kalmanowitz, Jordan S. Potash and Siu Mei Chan
Forewords by Shaun McNiff and William Fan

Paperback: £24.99 / $39.95

2012, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 390pp
ISBN: 978-1-84905-210-8, BIC 2: MQTC HPDF MMJT

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'a wide-ranging and magnificent addition to the literature for any practitioner working with patients from Asian cultures... each reader will take something different from this excellent and engaging book.'

- Therapy Today

'Art Therapy in Asia makes a world statement about the art therapy process...[It] embraces the complexity of cultures, human differences, and universal aspects of experience…One of the greatest compliments I can give [this book] is that it presents more questions and possibilities than answers and thus expands and sets the stage for future dialogue, research, creation and professional development within a global context.'

- From the foreword by Shaun McNiff, PhD, professor at Lesley University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

'This book not only enriches and promotes the growth and healing potential of art therapy in the Eastern world, it also offers invaluable insights from the very sources of many Asian theories, philosophies and practices already fully or partially adopted by Western professionals. Art Therapy in Asia may become Asia's most valuable healing export to the world. I hope it is translated into all languages for doctors, teachers, and therapists of all disciplines.'

- Bobbi Stoll, founder of the International Networking Group of Art Therapists (ING/AT) and Past President of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA), currently chair of the International Member Subcommittee of the AATA, Los Angeles, USA

'Although I've visited and taught art therapy in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, India, and Thailand, this book opened my eyes and expanded my mind in breathtaking ways. I hope that all Western art therapists will read and learn from this thoughtful, stimulating contribution to the global growth of art therapy.'

- Judith A. Rubin, Ph.D., ATR-BC, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, President of Expressive Media, Inc. and Past President and Honorary Life Member of the American Art Therapy Association, USA

'Art Therapy in Asia offers the reader a clearly articulated, richly textured picture of the theoretical, cultural, spiritual, and political forces at play in the work of Asian art therapists. Uniquely Eastern in perspective, it also elucidates the common ground between East and West and makes a significant and timely contribution to the increasingly global practice of art therapy.'

- Catherine Hyland Moon, author of Studio Art Therapy: Cultivating the Artist Identity in the Art Therapist and editor of Materials and Media in Art Therapy: Critical Understandings of Diverse Artistic Vocabularies, Associate Professor, Art Therapy Department, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA

'Art Therapy in Asia is an ambitious project in which a dedicated group of art therapists has participated, each participant bringing his or her own interest and specialism to the task. The thematic organisation of the book enables the reader to focus on the similarities and differences in approach to art therapy across the enormously wide range of cultures, languages, religions, and values that make up 'Asia'.'

- Professor Diane Waller, OBE, MA, DPhil, Dip Group Psych, FRSA, Emeritus Professor of Art Psychotherapy, Honorary Visiting Professor, Centre for Mental Health, Imperial College London, and Principal Research Fellow, School of Applied Social Science, University of Brighton, UK

'The lovely metaphor and question is the essence of the book. Is art therapy in Asia steeped to the bone in the cultures of the East, or do we know it is Asian by the merest touch of silk? The book shows both of these to be part of the answer. Kalmanowitz, Potash and Chan have gathered chapters from art therapists working in ten regions across Asia and the results are inspiring. They show the potential for adapting art therapy for different places and people in the world. They give touching insight into different Asian practice, and they show how things shared are helpful for practice everywhere.'

- Chris Wood, author of Navigating Art Therapy: A Therapist's Companion and Director of Art Therapy Northern Programme, Sheffield, UK

'This book is an important departure from previously published literature on art therapy: it sensitively and constructively challenges euro-centric assumptions about health, identity and spirituality and it also offers some very good practical advice on the practice of art therapy in Asia. It therefore provides a great contemporary overview of this topic and describes an inspiring way to think about ethnicity, culture and healing that many art therapists will find helpful. Its relevance goes much further than Asia and it should be widely read worldwide.'

- Val Huet, Chief Executive Officer, British Association of Art Therapists