The way art therapy activities are structured depends a great deal on the type of individual that it is being performed on. Remembering that the objective of art therapy is based on each individual client’s diagnosis, their particular capabilities, individual needs, and their personal interests – an emphasis on the creative development is placed along the path rather than the final finished assignment.

As a rule, adults do not respond as well to art therapy activities as do children, requiring a certain degree of convincing that they have creative aptitude. There is an excited enthusiasm about children (and certain adults) when they see paint, pencils, colored paper, and clay. This is why they can respond so well to art therapy activities in a therapeutic sitting as compared to adults. In fact, most adults would have a preference to articulate their own creative side in the solitude of their home in order to diminish stress. But there are times when more serious problems necessitate the assistance of professional help -for instance with an art therapist.

Art therapy activities thrive because they have the capacity to move the mind from the trouble itself, in hopes of achieving happiness and peace. The Dalai Lama once said, “In the final analysis, the hope of every person is merely peace of mind.” This attainment can be achieved with a agreeable state of conscious, on the condition there is a correlation with reality. With art therapy and art therapy activities, reality can be moved and altered for a few minutes, as art can take a person’s mind off what is the dilemma, allowing the subconscious to come forward and speak in another language that is kinder and much more gentler.

When creating with art therapy activities, the body and mind attains a certain flow about it, almost as if it was in a near-meditative status. Over the centuries, philosophers have been conscious that meditation has the capacity to blank the mind out of what is currently going on around it. In reality, the visualizations that build up through this form of creativity have the capacity to build tomorrow’s desired reality, if the art is permitted to be formed in a thoughtless state of pure automation.

This mind-set works fine with art therapy activities, as not all children and adults can correctly verbalize about how they feel what is going on within their mind or their body, especially if something traumatic has occurred. Not in touch with the reality of emotions and inner feelings, the mind is not free to understand the present which is where we are, but is buried in the past with hidden memories that cannot break away.