Launched in 2019, The NeuroArts Blueprint: Advancing the Science of Arts, Health and Wellbeing

http://www.neuroartsblueprint.org/

Healing Arts Symposium in 2021, a series of city activations produced by CultuRunners, Art and World Health Organization (WHO) Arts and Health Program in partnership with the Creative Arts Therapies Consortium at NYU Steinhardt, the NeuroArts Blueprint, an initiative of the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, the Health, Medicine, and Society Program at The Aspen Institute, and the Open Mind Project.

https://youtu.be/7LsqoDPlO0E

Healing Arts London 2021 is a call to action by the world of the arts in response to the mental health crisis caused by Covid-19. It is part of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) series of solidarity events and brings together a cultural coalition of partners including University College London, Tate, The Art Newspaper, the National Centre for Creative Health and Community Jameel

Trailor: https://youtu.be/btNsLp1CQ-8

Event: Healing Arts London: Frame of Mind—A Conversation about Art and Healing

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi contributed pioneering work to our understanding of happiness, creativity, human fulfillment and the notion of "flow" -- a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities such as art, play and work. He asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow." Presented on TED with over 6million views, Flow, the secret to happiness:

https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_flow_the_secret_to_happiness

Createful: #1 therapeutic art app with on-demand access to art therapist-guided videos proven to stimulate creativity, flow, and mindfulness for all skill levels and abilities:

Intro: https://fb.watch/2H7bTfLMpU/

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/createful

App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/createful-holistic-health/id1530975815

February 2022: Creative arts therapies for the mental health of emerging adults: A systematic review

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0197455621001064

International Art Therapy Associations:

http://www.arttherapyalliance.org/GlobalArtTherapyResources.html

American Art Therapy Association AATA
https://arttherapy.org/about-art-therapy/

“Within the arts lies a powerful but largely untapped force for healing. The arts and science are two sides of the same coin, which is our shared humanity. Our ability to live fulfilling healthy lives depends on bringing these two forces together”

Vikek Murthy, MD, MBA, 19th Surgeon General of the United States
Arts, Health, and Well-Being in America.

“The expressive arts therapies emphasize senses, feeling and non-verbal communication, establishing a different type of attunement between the practitioner and the individual or group less dependent on words.”
“...sensory-based attunement to the relationship is the real foundation of not only self-regulation, but also reparation and healing. In other words, it is not just the arts expression that is the reparative agent in expressive arts therapy; it is the therapist who brings the knowledgeable and sensitive relational skills to support actual change and recovery.”

Cathy Malchiodi 2016
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/arts-and-health/201603/expressive-arts-therapy-and-self-regulation

“Communication is not exclusively language-based nor is it the only form of healing and transformation. For those of us engaging individuals, groups, and communities in the interoceptive and exteroceptive moments central to expressive communication, we already know this — that implicit, sensory-based experiences really are at the core of all repair, recovery, and restoration.”

Cathy Malchiodi 2020
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/arts-and-health/202012/expressive-arts-therapy-the-original-psychotherapy

“Art can be a refuge from the intense emotions associated with illness.65 There are no limits to the imagination in finding creative ways of expressing grief. In particular, molding clay can be a powerful way to help people express these feelings through tactile involvement at a somatic level, as well as to facilitate verbal communication and cathartic release and reveal unconscious materials and symbols that cannot be expressed through words.66”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804629/

“Researchers found that mindful art therapy significantly reduced levels of depression, anxiety, aggression, and anger. Although the study was small in number of participants and focused specifically on people with heart disease, the research offers promising and creative methods to relieve stress, reduce depression, and better manage anxiety and anger. Many of the activities can be done at home on your own and are a simple, fun way to introduce mindfulness into your daily life.”
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/urban-survival/201803/mindfulness-art-therapy-can-reduce-depression-and-anxiety

Christianne Strang, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Alabama Birmingham and the former president of the American Art Therapy Association.

"Creativity in and of itself is important for remaining healthy, remaining connected to yourself and connected to the world" 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/01/11/795010044/feeling-artsy-heres-how-making-art-helps-your-brain


Other References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/15/arts/design/art-therapy-museums-virus.html

http://www.online-art-therapy.com/

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/art-therapy

Malchiodi, C. A. (2013). Art therapy and health care. New York: Guilford Publications

National Organization for Arts in Health. (2017). Arts, health and well-being in America. San Diego, CA: Author.