From the author: The article was published in the magazine “HRMagazine” 2013. – No. 2 on the site Here I added other photographs. Art therapy is a fairly new direction in our country. In Western countries, this movement arose at the beginning of the twentieth century. Art therapy allows you to express yourself through “other voices”: movements, color, shape, plasticity, landscape. All these voices indicate the reality of what we cannot comprehend in words, what we are afraid to even think about, and do not feel the right to say. The use of art therapeutic methods provides for interactive forms of interaction between all participants in the process, turns consumers into creators and researchers who, independently, with their own eyes, are able to see “taught” limitations and illusory “prospects.” For participants in art therapeutic performances, empty words from newspaper headlines turn into a harmonious visual series or an expressive sequence of forms that amaze with their sincerity and honesty, full of feelings and experiences. . Why did art therapy arise? How did people manage without it before? Why was an entire movement formed on a global scale? The answer to these questions is quite simple. The twentieth century was a period of mass migration of people to cities, which entailed a significant change in human lifestyle. In rural areas, people were always in a harmonious environment of nature, leading a measured and calm life. Stages of intense tension (sowing and harvesting) ended with spiritual holidays and diluted the leisurely everyday flow of events. Everyone rose with the sun and went to bed very early - candles were expensive. Life was accompanied every day by songs, conversations, handicrafts, and the creation of necessary objects and things. And all their experiences - sad or joyful - people had the opportunity to express, pour out their souls, and at the same time create something beautiful or necessary. Thus, all the emotions that arose in people found a way out and were not stored in the unconscious. The urban lifestyle made the individual a consumer: food, clothing, objects, music, painting, information. That is, the inner world of a city dweller is constantly susceptible to attack by the external environment, leaving the city dweller without even a chance to listen and understand what is happening inside the person himself. Personal experiences seem to be “forgotten” under the pressure of external cacophony. But once they arise, our feelings and experiences do not go away. They become hostages of an internal prison, and not finding a way out, they become a “time bomb” (the expression of one client). Exchange processes between the environment and the individual, and within the individual itself, are disrupted. The result is obvious. Psychosomatic disorders, nervous breakdowns, conflicts at all levels. Our contemporaries are often unable to track, understand and identify their own feelings and experiences, much less express them. The reason, in my opinion, is one-sided education at school, tailored in a masculine way, which does not develop any kind of culture of feelings or even basic mental hygiene skills. Even “physical culture” has turned, thanks to male influence, into competition and passing standards instead of getting acquainted with the methods of maintaining physical health developed over thousands of years by humanity. However, fierce competition has also made it clear that the human emotional world cannot continue to be ignored, otherwise companies will lose their potential due to increasing emotional chaos within the system. This is how trainings on emotional intelligence and stress resistance have become in demand. In this context, art therapy is a real panacea for those who are used to loading only the left hemisphere of their brain. Art therapy is a branch of psychotherapy that uses art in the broadest sense for healing. The healing effect of art has been known to mankind since time immemorial. Mysteries, temple holidays, making amulets were an integral part of lifeancient peoples. The components of the transformation effect - catharsis, sublimation, projection - were described by the founder of psychoanalysis, S. Freud. “Man, according to Bergson’s research, is the subject of artistic creativity in the broad sense of the word. He sees the world in projection, in metaphors, in illusions, although the world is more complex. He draws the world for himself, which means he is a natural Artist by nature.” - writes Ramil Garifullin, a modern psychological researcher (http://psyfactor.org/lib/postmodern-03.htm). Art therapy as a technology for maintaining mental balance and health has taken a prominent place in the practice of world psychotherapy, medicine, pedagogy and social work. Unlike other types of psychological assistance, art therapy has no contraindications. Even those who are in a coma can be offered listening to specially selected music or literary works. Art therapy can be used for children and the elderly, sick and healthy, for people with low intelligence and those who have problems with social adaptation. The fundamental difference between art therapy and all other types of psychotherapy is triadicity - the presence of three elements in the work process: “client - creative product - specialist”. Thanks to this, in art therapy there is no strict dependence on the personality of the therapist; the most active interaction occurs between the creative product and the client. A specialist in this work plays the role of a facilitator, so representatives of creative professions (artists, singers, dancers, etc.) also work successfully in art therapy. Art therapy is also characterized by metaphor – the transference of one’s own meanings and feelings into the space of a creative product. The ambiguity of emerging images and symbols allows you to very gently and ecologically, step by step, make bitter or impressive discoveries, work with interpersonal conflicts and archetypal areas of the unconscious. The resourcefulness of art therapy lies in using the potential of the right hemisphere of the brain. Contact with the intuitive world of creativity or even feeling into the masterpieces of world art, admiration for the monumental grandeur of nature becomes a journey into an unknown world that rewards the hero with precious treasures of insights. New impressions and strength fill the personality, opening up access to deep personal resources that are not used at all in ordinary life. This is the energy that is called “spark,” “enthusiasm,” and “inspiration.” Thanks to this, art therapy is an excellent tool for developing creativity both as an individual and as a group as a whole. What is the difference between ordinary creativity and art therapy? After all, clients do the same actions - draw, dance and sing? The difference is in the purpose of the work. The goal of art therapeutic activity is self-expression, and the goal of creative activity is the creation of an aesthetic result. Also, an important element of art therapy is the discussion of feelings and experiences that arose during the work, which requires special knowledge and skills from the consultant. The variety of types and forms of art therapy is inexhaustible. Music therapy allows you to create amazing emotional moods, because its effect on the body is of a wave nature , it is impossible to resist her. Isotherapy (working with drawings) makes it possible to see with your own eyes a picture of the internal plane of experiences. Folklore therapy, as T.Yu. Koloshina says, is psychotherapy squared, thanks to the contact and living of cultural images. Film therapy reveals whole healing stories to a person. Puppet therapy allows you to track the characteristics of self-ownership. Bibliotherapy promotes mastery of verbal self-expression. Dance movement therapy helps you understand the secrets of your own body. Drama therapy opens up the opportunity to lose or replay something in your life. Art therapy is a unique method of psychological assistance. The variability of this approach allows us to solve problems of a wide range of profiles, from therapeutic to developmental. creative product,.