accredited by the Private Career Training Institutions Agency
1941 Lee Avenue     Victoria, BC Canada V8R 4W9
Phone: 250~598~6434     Fax: 250~598~6449
info@bcsat.com

Our Mission Statement

« To offer quality art therapy training at a graduate level, to provide art therapy education to health professionals and the public at large, and to promote and develop art therapy services in the community. »

Theoretical Orientation

The British Columbia School of Art Therapy provides a training program with a flexible theoretical orientation grounded in current principles of professional practice. The philosophy of the School is to maintain an equal emphasis on the acadermic, experiential and practical sides of the discipline. The School's theoretical orientation stems from the position that an art therapist must be well grounded within their own experience and within their own knowledge of themselves. They also must be thoroughly familiar with the language and experience of the visual arts since an understanding of the visual arts and the creative process is considered fundamental to the practice of art therapy.

The School requires that students have training in three foundation areas prior to admission: psychology, counselling, and the fine arts. The program then builds on this training by providing a range of theoretical orientations that reflect the differing views of the practicing clinicians on the faculty. Students are encouraged to explore the uses and potentials of each orientation when dealing with different client populations, treatment goals, and the student's own preferred therapeutic style. Thus, students are not expected to adhere to a particular theoretical model but, instead, are encouraged to become familiar with a variety of models. In recent years, owing to the nature of the faculty, the theoretical views most strongly represented in the program are those associated with the Phenomenological, Gestalt, Jungian, and Eclectic forms of treatment.

Nature of the Program

As stated above, the Diploma Program requires two years to complete while the Certificate Program requires 15 months to complete. Both programs require full-time study although arrangements for part-time study can be made. Program length is increased if students attend on a part-time basis. It should be noted that the workload for the Diploma Program is comparable to that of a master's degree and is thus described as a master's equivalent, while the Certificate Program offers specialization in the principles of art therapy for clinicians who already have a master's degree. The course work in both programs is considered to represent the minimum level of training needed for the use of art therapy in practice and builds upon the pre-existing clinical skills referred to above under admission requirements.

The core curriculum consists of courses in the theories of art therapy, the melding of art and psychopathology, as well as in the principles of the use of art therapy with children, adolescents, and families. Students are also expected to complete a special project, which may consist of a research undertaking or some other form of individually designed project.

In addition to course work students in the Diploma Program are required to complete 800 hours of practica, which includes a minimum of 440 client contact hours. Students in the Certificate Program are required to complete 650 hours of practica, which includes a minimurn of 350 client contact hours.

In both programs students also are expected to experience, on a personal level, the therapeutic use of art. This studio component of training is intended to provide students with an opportunity to actively explore, from a personal perspective, the process of art therapy under the direction of a professional Art Therapist. It also enables students to integrate this process into currently accepted conceptual frameworks of clinical practice.

In addition to the core courses, a series of elective courses are offered throughout the year that focuses on a variety of specialized areas within art therapy. This elective component enables students to individualize their training experiences through the selection of topic areas that are of particular interest to them.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the principles of individual art psychotherapy and art as therapy in a group setting comprise the training forte offered by the School. Currently there are two provincially fimded art therapy programs in Victoria. These programs are run by graduates of BCSAT, and offer practicum placements for beginning students who wish the opportunity to work with individuals who suffer from chronic and persistent mental illness. Consequently, most students who attend BCSAT will complete at least a portion of their practica within a mental health setting.

Many of the supervisors for these practica are qualified art therapists who have graduated from BCSAT.

Our History

The BC School of Art Therapy was founded by Kathleen Grace Collis. Kay was also the first Canadian art therapist to be registered by the American Art Therapy Association.

In 1969 Kay Collis, then a student of art and psychology at the University of Victoria, was invited to develop an art program at the Victoria Mental Health Centre for people with major mental illnesses. In that year she was also invited to the Menninger Clinic by Robert Ault and to the founding meeting of the American Art Therapy Association. While continuing to work in Victoria under the British Columbia Ministry of Health, Kay established an art therapy department at the Victoria Mental Health Centre and began to receive many requests for training from people in the local community. During this time it was becoming quite apparent that the need existed for a professional association. To meet this need, in 1978 the British Columbia Art Therapy Association was founded which in turn led to the establishment of the governing body, the Victoria Institute of Art Therapy Association (VIATA) in 1982.

By 1985 the Institute’s school had become a formal full-time program and was officially established as the British Columbia School of Art Therapy (BCSAT). In 1993, the non-profit society which governs BCSAT was renamed the Centre for Human Science Research and Its Relation to Human Science Association.

At present the School is a private educational institution that offers graduate level training, consisting of both practical and theoretical instruction, within a clinical setting. It operates from funds provided by tuition fees and from administration and implementation of art therapy services in the community. BCSAT awards two credentials: a two year post-bachelor’s Diploma in Art Therapy and a 15 month post-master’s Certificate in Art Therapy. The School is registered with the Private Career Training Institutions Agency of British Columbia and is both a registered charity and a non-profit society.