“Putting Therapy in My Own Hands”: Cottage Industry Employment and the Healing Potential of Collaborative Making

The integration of art therapy in medicine is expanding as are calls to strengthen its evidence base of clinical outcomes. In this essay, we elevate the voices of non-clinically based artists who work in community and home settings. Although we do not discount the value of art therapy, we add nuance and complexity to clinical and society narratives about art and health by bringing into focus experiential intent and outcome as well as context to explore the meaning-making capacity of the arts. We argue: (1) aesthetic experiences can foster self-expression, relational development, and employment beyond medically identified goals and treatment plans; and, (2) Equating community-based art programming with art therapy oversimplifies our understanding of art and health and does a disservice to both.