Burapha University, Chonburi,  Thailand, plans to form a new ‘Asia Pacific Center for Art Therapy’.  The Center will be jointly administered by three separate Faculties within the University; Public Health, Nursing and Fine Arts.

The Center will provide a base for a broad range of initiatives including, e.g. development of academic curricula in Art Therapy, international student and faculty exchange programs, promotion of scholarly research and design and implementation of fieldwork projects addressing critical psychosocial needs in Thailand and the region.  Art Therapy will be the specific focus but the Center's projects will likely span a large spectrum within allied health fields and public health.

The new Center represents a further step towards the establishment of Art Therapy as a professional  discipline within Thailand.  The announcement is a further outgrowth of collaboration between CHART and Burapha  that began following the 2004 Asian tsunami and continued with the presentation of an ‘Introduction to Art Therapy Conference’ held in Bangkok in March 2006. 

One of the Center’s first major projects will involve planning for  a follow-up event with a broader regional scope;  the ‘2009 Asia Pacific Art Therapy Conference’.

Bangkok 2006 Introduction to Art Therapy Conference

  Read pre-print (pdf download)  from Dr. Ron Markwardt, Faculty of Public Health, Burapha University "Culture and Art in Health"