Art Therapists

Plan or conduct art therapy sessions or programs to improve clients' physical, cognitive, or emotional well-being.

Most important skills

Social Perceptiveness
Active Listening
Speaking
Monitoring
Critical Thinking
Service Orientation
Judgment and Decision Making
Reading Comprehension

Key knowledge

Therapy and Counseling
Psychology
Fine Arts
Sociology and Anthropology
Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Education and Training
Administrative

What the work involves

Analyze data to determine the effectiveness of treatments or therapy approaches.
Analyze or synthesize client data to draw conclusions or make recommendations for art therapy.
Assess client needs or disorders, using drawing, painting, sculpting, or other artistic processes.
Communicate client assessment findings and recommendations in oral, written, audio, video, or other forms.
Conduct art therapy sessions, providing guided self-expression experiences to help clients recover from, or cope with, cognitive, emotional, or physical impairments.
Confer with other professionals on client's treatment team to develop, coordinate, or integrate treatment plans.
Customize art therapy programs for specific client populations, such as those in schools, nursing homes, wellness centers, prisons, shelters, or hospitals.
Design art therapy sessions or programs to meet client's goals or objectives.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Artistic, Investigative.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education: Master's Degree (97.1% of expert ratings)
Related experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (40%)
On-the-job training: Anything beyond short demonstration, up to and including 1 month (31.4%)
Preparation level: O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Licensing: Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.

Check before planning

Licensing for Art Therapists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Projection education uses SOC 29-1129 (detailed_parent); it may describe a broader group.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	High	Higher on contact with others than 66% of occupations compared	66% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	Moderate	Lower on dealing with the public than 53% of occupations compared	31% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Low	Lower on teamwork than 66% of occupations compared	49% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Freedom to make decisions	Very high	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 90% of occupations compared	71% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	Low	Lower on time pressure than 64% of occupations compared	43% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Conflict situations	Very high	Higher on conflict situations than 85% of occupations compared	51% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Very high	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 87% of occupations compared	37% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Consequence of error	Low	Lower on consequence of error than 61% of occupations compared	40% of surveyed respondents chose “Fairly serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: low
Conflict situations: very high
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
Consequence of error: low

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions