🎭 From art, the words emerged. A patchwork-colored mask of my face, no distinct features emphasized. I couldn’t risk choosing the “wrong” face. The head opens to reveal two figures playing patty cake. “It feels like people playing patty cake in my head. I don’t know the rules or how to play the game.” In retrospect, a clear representation of social deficits experienced throughout life.

The heart opened to reveal tiny sculptures for the important areas of my life. Each hung in the back, awaiting their turn to be placed in the center, called to action. I described it then as compartmentalizing, but now it feels more in alignment with hyperfocus. ~Mixed-media, Self-Puppet, 2008

The details of the art came together to tell a story, to make meaning. Research supports Autistic people understand the world better through bottom-up processing. Bottom-up processing builds on details, sensory information, and data that is then integrated to make meaning. The multi-modal nature of expressive arts therapy offers a neuroaffirming bottom-up approach to therapy (C. Malchiodi, 2023).

When it comes to incorporating movements, sound, art, etc., I’m often asked, “how do you get them to do that?”

It started with, “how do I let myself do that?” Understanding the why allows my protector parts to relax. The parts of me that ask “Why?” are satisfied by the work of R. Lanius as integrated by C. Malchiodi in Expressive Arts Therapy & Sensory Integration. My physiological states understood through the lens of polyvagal theory (S. Porges). It’s this foundation that makes engaging in expressive arts accessible.

While psychoeducation is considered a top-down approach, it reveals an invisible layer of the therapeutic process. It moves the discussion from “social based to object based” (M. Neff, 2024). It’s the details of bottom-up access. This sets the foundation for collaboratively building expressive experientials.

Learn more about Creative Treatment Planning at the 2026 World Art Therapy Conference: February 21-22: Art Therapy & Neurodiversity

https://www.artstherapies.org/course/world-art-therapy-conference-2026

#expressiveartstherapy #artherapy #neurodivergent #watc2026