# Art healing or art therapy? Untangling conceptual confusion in China and advancing a pathway toward community institutionalization

## TL;DR

This paper addresses confusion between art therapy and art healing in China and proposes a framework to professionalize and institutionalize art therapy for better mental health services.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a threefold institutional pathway to clarify conceptual boundaries and promote the professionalization of art therapy in China.

## Key findings

- Conceptual confusion between art therapy and art healing in China is leading to de-professionalization.
- A threefold institutional pathway is proposed to advance community-based mental health services.
- Certification, education, and policy integration are identified as key components for institutionalization.

## Abstract

The field of art therapy in China is currently facing severe conceptual confusion between art therapy and art healing. While international scholarship has widely noted the inherently fluid boundaries among these practices, this paper argues that in China, where an institutional vacuum exists, such fluidity has resulted not in productive debate but in a conceptual conflation. This paper examines how such confusion manifests across academic research, educational practices, and the commercial market, arguing that it has led to de-professionalization and hindered the sustainable development of community-based mental health services. Drawing on internationally recognized practice elements of community art therapy, this paper uses a conceptual analysis approach to critically synthesize literature, policy documents, and international professional standards, and proposes that China should establish a threefold institutional pathway comprising certification and regulatory mechanisms, interdisciplinary education, and policy integration. This framework would help delineate conceptual boundaries, advance the professionalization of art therapy, and promote its institutionalization within community settings, thereby enabling art therapy to contribute effectively to public mental health services and social integration.