INSTITUTE OF ART THERAPY INC
200 N Greensboro Street, Carrboro, NC 27510 www.ncati.org

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Organizations Filed Purposes: The Art Therapy Institute's mission is to advance the well-being and mental health of diverse North Carolinians through accessible, strengths-based, culturally responsive art therapy; to further support our communities through local events and professional development opportunities; and to contribute to and uphold research, theory, and practice of the creative arts therapies. ATI offers both individual and group art therapy services to children, adolescents, adults and families. Art therapy can help clients express feelings too difficult to talk about, increase self-esteem and confidence, identify feelings and blocks to emotional growth and find an avenue for communication through art.

The Newcomer Art Therapy Project ATI contributes to the health and well-being of the growing population of refugees, immigrants, and asylum seekers (collectively, "newcomers") relocating to the Triangle and Triad areas. Through the Newcomer Art Therapy Project (NATP), ATI provides arts-based counseling services to newcomer children and adolescents in local schools, and adults at local health clinics, resettlement agencies, and community-based support groups. These art therapy services help newcomers address issues from their past, succeed in their new school and work settings, acculturate to North Carolina, and build hopes for the future. In 2019, the NATP served over 350 child, adolescent, and adult refugees and immigrants hailing from over 40 countries worldwide. The majority of these clients fall below the poverty line, and lack adequate health insurance and access to resources, including mental health care. In addition, many of these clients have experienced tremendous challenges in their lives, including trauma, life in refugee camps, deaths in their families, and continued difficulties with acculturation, self-esteem, and language barriers. NATP group and individual art therapy sessions use strengths-based approaches to address the psychological needs of newcomers, including but not limited to directives that explore clients' past experiences, their current acculturation struggles, and their goals for the future. These art therapy services help clients build resilience and hope while reducing anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms. This in turn helps them succeed in school, develop social skills, increase self-esteem and self-confidence, return to jobs and family life, maintain their cultural community ties, and also acculturate into their new host communities. ATI utilizes art shows, community events, and partnerships with other organizations to empower our clients and share their stories with the greater community. NATP is funded by community member donations and foundation grants, Medicaid and insurance billing, and some school- and partnering-program-based funding. ATI partnered with various agencies in 2019 to serve clients in the NATP program, including but not limited to the Orange County Refugee Health Coalition, USCRI, Church World Service, the Refugee Community Partnership, the UNC Refugee Mental Health and Wellness Initiative, the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City Schools, the Durham Public Schools, the Doris Henderson Newcomers School, Piedmont Health Services, and the Duke Kenan Institute for Ethics.

The Art Therapy Institute has an annual contract with the Chapel Hill/Carrboro City schools to serve students in the Exceptional Children's (EC) program. This program serves all Exceptional Children's self-contained classrooms in the district, depending on teacher interest, and in 2019, ATI served in 9 of these classrooms. EC program clients have a variety of life challenges including autism spectrum disorders, developmental disabilities, learning impairments, visual impairments, hearing impairments, emotional and behavioral disabilities, and other life challenges. Through the Exceptional Children's Program ATI art therapists help with communication, social skills, emotion regulation, sensory integration and self-expression, as well as gross and fine motor skills. In addition, the program serves as a positive means for the student to gain mastery and success in school. In 2019, we served approximately 100 children over the course of the year in the self-contained EC classrooms, for 45 minutes per week. Many of our students are seen in small groups.

Beyond the NATP and the EC Program, ATI hosts various other smaller programs within the community. In 2019, we continued our Memory Care Program at Galloway Ridge, which served approximately 50 residents across the year. This program serves older adults living with Alzheimer's and dementia, providing residents at local assisted living facilities the opportunity to participate in art therapy groups four times a month. ATI therapists provide 4 sessions per month, 60 minutes per session, 8-10 residents per group (Estimated 50 total, per year). Art therapy enables memory care clients to communicate and express themselves in ways that seem to bypass some of the problems of Alzheimer's and dementia. Since the groups began, residents have explored many art forms and materials to improve their ability to focus and develop a sense of mastery and control. The group approach offers the artists the opportunity to build relationships and socially connect while awakening a sense of curiosity and interest through self-expression. The Memory Care Program encourages group members and Peer Support Group (APS) emerged in 2011 from the collaboration of an expressive therapist from the Art Therapy Institute in Carrboro, NC, a social worker from the School of Social Work at UNC-Chapel Hill, and a group of artists from the Triangle Area who hoped for a space to come together in the community, create art, and support one another in the process of mental health recovery. Groups consist of approximately 8-10 members and meet weekly in Carrboro for 2 hours per week. Over the course of the year we work with approximately 40 adults. Together, we have explored many art forms (painting, drawing, weaving, collage, sculpture, photography, poetry, music, and others), and in so doing, have come to know, care for, and heal each other. We have exhibited our art in the community, and have shared our work with students, professionals, and other partners. We are committed to maintaining our free, weekly group as a safe space for creative and reflective work, and to remaining "fearlessly out of line" by celebrating ourselves as artists rather than as damaged people, continually challenging the stigma that shapes our public conversation about mental illness. In 2019, ATI offered 2 twelve week sessions of the Arts and Peer Support Group in Durham, NC in partnership with the Duke Outpatient Clinic. We reached approximately 20 clients with this program which mirrored the goals and spirit of the Carrboro group. In 2019, ATI also served adolescents at Boomerang, a school-suspension program, (approximately 30 students over the school year) , as well as adolescent participants involved with the Reintegration Support Network. In 2019, ATI began collaborating with NC Start, offering a weekly art therapy group at their resource center in Durham, NC. The resource center serves as a respite house for adults living with development and intellectual disabilities. We served approximately 40 people through this program. Using a variety of art materials and directives, ATI art therapists help with communication, social skills, emotion regulation, sensory integration and self-expression, as well as gross and fine motor skills.

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