Art therapy is a discipline that is based on the materials, techniques and decoding criteria of graphic, plastic, pictorial art and what we call the "new media" such as collage, video and graphic novels. There are various types of art therapy, each with its own theoretical and methodological model: we at ArTeA follow the polysign model, which was born in Italy in the 1980s and is based on the communicative capacity of images.

Art is communication, it has its own language. Lines, shapes, colors and volumes become "words".

The image, be it a painting or a sculpture, becomes communication. The patient organizes thoughts and ideas, communicates his experiences, his reflections, his relationships, his emotions, which can be understood by the art therapist, as an expert in the visual code.

Art therapy therefore allows the user to undertake an introspective path or a path through which to reflect on his ways of interacting with the world, with others and on his own being in the world.

The course takes place within a safe and non-judgmental setting.

Each path is individual and during the first meetings all the materials of the various areas of expression (corporeal, cognitive, imaginary, emotional) are explored, to then focus on the communication channel most suitable for the individual. Gradually, the art therapist identifies the recurring messages and themes, reads the patient's "story" and understands which direction to go in, considers whether it is necessary to focus on the internal world or the external world, which materials and images to propose, which theme to carry forward .

Nothing is left to chance, it is not a question of free artistic expression (except in specific cases and always proposed in a conscious manner), but rather the methodology of the ArTeA folder is followed, a traceable documentation, in which, for each user, the medical history, the diary of the meetings, the decoding of each work, the description of the techniques and materials used, the hypotheses, the supervision.

Anyone can follow an art therapy journey. There are no requirements or limits related to artistic knowledge, technical skill, gender, age, culture, cognitive or physical disability.

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