Our Story
NYATA History
Welcome to the ongoing project of collecting and preserving the heritage of the New York Art Therapy Association.
We hope you will join us in submitting any history that you may have to contribute. We welcome photos, articles, documents etc. that may contribute to the archiving of NYATA's history.
Any information from your own service on the NYATA Board or as a NYATA member over the decades, including flyers or mailings you may still have.
Stories about all our NYS Art Therapy Education programs. Open call for those of you who are/were program directors or long-term faculty members to write the history of your education program.
Stories about our mentors. As time goes by, our mentors retire or pass on. It’s important to preserve the memories of what and how they taught us about art therapy to keep their legacy alive. Anecdotes about our teachers would be a wonderful addition to our history.
Our journey to licensure as LCATs, from telephone chains asking members to write and call their representatives, to paying lobbyists, all the way up to the establishment of the NYS Board for Mental Health Practitioners will be recorded. Contributions of your participation in the licensure efforts are welcome.
Stories about some of the benchmark art therapy clinical programs that put art therapy on the map in NY. Many of our members were early graduates in their education program’s history. Sites for internships with actual art therapy supervisors and programs were few and far between. Many of us had to blaze trails. But it’s important to pay homage to those early programs that really were there for students to learn and grow in. Some of those program still are in operation and some no longer exist. Anyone who has worked in them is welcome to record their history either verbally or through video. (For example, the Henry Street Settlement School was a benchmark program and no longer exists. Dr. Robert Wolf and Dr. Elizabeth Gonzalez-Dolginko, both of whom were clinical directors there.) It would be great to have stories and videos about other benchmark programs, like Bellevue, Bronx Children’s, Metropolitan Hospital, Maimonides, Lenox Hill, St. Vincent’s, Woodhull, South Oaks, Brunswick, NUMC.
Art shows and other special NYATA-sponsored presentations can be included.
Stories about art therapy work done about the AIDS crisis, September 11th, and Natural Disasters.
Lists of NYATA HLMs and Pam Clark Distinguished Service Awards. We welcome anyone who knew Pam Clark to write her story for our archives.
**Dr. Beth Gonzalez-Dolginko, LCAT, ATR-BC, NYATA HLM and Dr. Robert Irwin Wolf, LCAT, LP have collaborated on a blog post and video outlining the creative culture that NYATA was born in.
Please direct all questions and submissions to Dr. Beth Gonzalez-Dolginko, LCAT, ATR-BC, NYATA HLM at ddolginko@aol.com