Considering Communication With Clients During Art Creation

Guide

  • Firstly!Start with being open: This means inviting the curiosity within you rather than pushing things away. Client’s can feel your energy, and any doubt that you are judging their artwork will be fatal to the Art Therapy process and your rapport building.

  • Ask open ended questions such as: “Tell me what you’ve made?”

  • Avoid assumptions or interpretations as the client creates the artwork. The point is to guide the client through the experience while asking open-ended questions that deepen the experience rather than get definitive answers. Sometimes the client doesn’t know why they chose a specific color, shape, or line, and that’s okay. The point is that they are indeed creating artwork.

  • Utilize descriptive language to better understand the client’s experience; This means reflecting your observations in NEUTRAL terms, such as: “I noticed you used a lot of blue here.”

  • I can’t stress this enough. AVOID JUDGMENTS. I like to start my sessions by reminding my clients that my space is safe and that it is a non-judgement zone. Oftentimes, clients will feel more open to making mistakes and creative play when under the impression that they will not be judged or critiqued for their artwork.

  • Prioritize the clients meaning making, not your own. This means asking the client what their artwork means to THEM, what THEIR cultural and personal contexts are, and how it shapes THEIR image.

  • Focus on the PROCESS over the PRODUCT. Explore creativity over focusing on the outcome of the client’s artwork. This is also something I let my client’s know during session. Art Therapy is more about the way you FEEL during the process of art creation, and the end result is the EVIDENCE of that experience.

  • It’s helpful to prompt the client with open-ended questions such as “What is it like to use clay/paint/etc…?” during session. These questions can keep the client present during session, as well as create awareness of their emotions, which is also a DBT skill called “Mindfulness”.

  • Help a client explore their feelings. Invite emotional reflection during art creation and after the artwork is completed. a prompted question could look like this: “How do you feel during this process? How do you feel when you look at the artwork you’ve created?”

  • Honor a client’s personal metaphors and symbolism. Reflect gently if a client shares symbols or metaphors that are meaningful to them. Note if you see any reoccurring themes. However, make sure to AVOID imposing universal interpretations. Depending on the client’s background, interpretations vary, especially from our own perceptions.

  • Go at the client’s pace, not your own. If they are not able to finish the project in time, allow them to continue it in the next sessions. Pushing for completion will not allow for an authentic, healing experience.

  • Allow silence. Respect the client if they choose NOT to explain their artwork or experiences. The important part about Art Therapy is that the client is expressing themselves through their art creation and building up their self-esteem and confidence in art creation. Forcing communication can damage rapport as well.

  • Remind yourself that a client’s experience supersedes your own desire for understanding their experience. They don’t have to explain anything. Attending and joining in art creation is all that we are hoping for.

  • Normalize and empower your clients. Affirm them in that all expression is valid. Reinforce creativity as a resource for healing.

  • Address perfectionism mindsets, societal views on art and creation, possible expectations from self and family, and even personal negative experiences with art or art creation. Breaking the perception that art can only be created if it is initially perfect is key to opening up the client’s mind to creativity and mistake making.

Helpful questions to prompt a client:

  • “Can you tell me about your artwork?”

  • “What stands out to you in this piece?”

  • “How did you feel while/after you made the artwork?”

  • “Does this image remind you of anything in your life (past/present/goals for the future)?”

  • “If this artwork could talk, what might it say?”

  • ”Where would you place yourself in this picture?”

Communication with Clients while conducting therapy of any kind is crucial and can make or break therapeutic rapport with a client.

When it comes to Art Therapy, there is a specific way to approach the communication of a client’s artwork. It’s very important to note that one of the misinterpretations of Art Therapists is that they are meant to analyze a client’s artwork after they have completed it.

Although there are specific Art Therapy assessments that can give interesting clues to dynamics that the client MIGHT be going through, the results are not definitive. Some clients might express explicit material in hopes to release their trauma. This is not an indicator that they have intent to enact these behaviors, but rather release the pain connected to them.

Here is a general guide to working with clients while creating art, in order to better understand where they are coming from rather than making assumptions and ruining rapport.

Art Therapy and non-verbal communication

Nonverbal communication is central to Art Therapy because much of human emotional experience exists beyond words. Through images, symbols, colors, gestures, and creative processes, clients can express feelings, memories, and experiences that may be difficult—or impossible—to verbalize.

Below are the key reasons nonverbal communication is so important in art therapy.

1. Accesses Emotions That Are Hard to Put Into Words

Many people struggle to verbally describe complex emotions such as grief, trauma, shame, or confusion. Art provides a visual language for those experiences.

For example, a client may:

  • Draw chaotic lines to express anxiety

  • Use dark colors to represent sadness

  • Create fragmented images that reflect trauma

In this way, the artwork becomes a container for emotional expression without requiring immediate verbal explanation.

2. Supports Trauma Processing

Traumatic experiences are often stored in sensory and emotional memory, rather than verbal memory. This means talking alone may not fully access or process those experiences.

Nonverbal expression through art can:

  • Bypasses cognitive defenses

  • Accesses sensory memory

  • Allows for safe externalization of traumatic memories

This aligns with research on trauma and the brain within Trauma-Informed Care.

3. Engages the Brain in Different Ways

Art making activates sensory, emotional, and motor areas of the brain. Nonverbal communication in art therapy helps integrate:

  • Emotional processing

  • Sensory experience

  • Cognitive reflection

Within the Expressive Therapies Continuum, nonverbal communication can occur at multiple levels:

  • kinesthetic/sensory (movement and materials)

  • perceptual/affective (color, shape, emotion)

  • symbolic (metaphor and imagery)

This layered processing helps deepen therapeutic insight.

4. Creates Psychological Distance and Safety

Art allows clients to externalize internal experiences.

Instead of saying “I feel broken,” a client might draw a cracked object.
This creates distance between the person and the feeling.

That distance can:

  • Reduce shame or overwhelm

  • Increase emotional safety

  • Make difficult experiences easier to explore

5. Enhances Therapeutic Communication

Artwork becomes a third element in the therapy relationship (client – therapist – artwork).

This allows therapists to:

  • Observe patterns in color, form, and imagery

  • Ask reflective questions

  • Explore meaning collaboratively

The client maintains control over interpretation, while the artwork acts as a visual dialogue.

6. Supports Clients with Limited Verbal Ability

Nonverbal communication is especially helpful for people who may have difficulty expressing themselves verbally, including:

  • Children

  • Neurodivergent individuals

  • Individuals with developmental differences

  • People experiencing intense emotional distress

  • Clients speaking different languages

Art allows them to participate fully in therapy without relying on language.

7. Reveals Unconscious Material

Images and symbols can reveal thoughts or feelings that the client may not consciously recognize.

For example:

  • Recurring imagery (intrusive thoughts)

  • Symbolic representations

  • Spatial organization in artwork

These elements can open deeper conversations about identity, relationships, and internal experiences.


Nonverbal communication in art therapy allows clients to express, explore, and process emotional experiences visually and somatically, making therapy accessible for feelings and memories that are difficult to articulate with words alone.