Expressive & Creative Arts (ECA)

This foundation course serves as an introduction to the uses of the expressive and creative arts as an educational and therapeutic vehicle for self-awareness, personal growth and transformation of consciousness. Through experiential exercises and discussion, this course will explore how a variety of arts-based modalities can be utilized to support the learning and healing pathways for individuals and groups. The in-class experiences will draw upon various expressive arts modalities, including: visual imagery, sound, movement, and writing, as part of an inter-modal expressive arts approach. Students will further develop their understanding of the material with responses to readings and other educational resources on the theories, research and approaches to working with the arts as a transformational process and practice. The course includes a trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. This course introduces ways to begin to adapt and utilize these holistic practices with others, in a variety of professional settings, including in counseling, psychotherapy, education, healthcare, the arts, and community settings.

The Arts, Nature and Eco-Consciousness is an integrative learning course, presented in an experiential-learning, workshop format. The class presents foundational material on Deep Ecology, Eco-Psychology, and the role of the creative process in renewing our connection with the environment. The class will emphasize a holistic approach to embodied creative arts processes that reflect the interconnectedness of all life within the earth's community. It will also encourage self-exploration through image making and creative expression (inter-modal use of visual arts, sound, movement & theater arts). The class also presents foundational material on the philosophies of important visionaries in the field of human-nature relationships. Through a hands-on approach to self-expression and reverential ecology, participants will be able to apply the concepts presented in their personal and professional life, in a variety of settings including counseling, education, coaching and community organizations. The course includes a trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. This course is currently offered as a 1-credit special elective course."

This course is designed to provide students with experiential opportunities for creative self-discovery using various inter-modal expressive arts modalities, focusing primarily on image-making and visual arts, with inter-modal processes. In addition, it offers discussion segments that explore the importance for our time and culture of engaging our connection to our own individual creativity and inner wisdom, and the effect doing this can have on the growth of personal as well as collective consciousness. One key premise of the course is that each of us is born creative and that being creative is the nature of being alive. Another key premise is that, in order to be effective in integrating the use of art, creativity and image-making in any educational, therapeutic, business or other professional settings, it is critical to explore one's creative process, development, and style. Accordingly, the principal emphasis of the course is on individual work using personal process, in-class experientials, and guided independent creative work. The course includes a trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. Students will learn how to adapt and integrate elements of expressive arts into their professional areas of specialization, including counseling, psychotherapy, healthcare, the arts, education, and community settings, through discussions and the utilization of creative exercises that emphasize an inter-modal arts approach. This course is offered in a hybrid format, involving weekend experiential intensives along with guided study time for personal and professional integration. This course is required for the CAGS/CGS in the professional applications of the expressive and creative arts. Any student who would like to register for this course prior to acceptance into the CAGS/CGS expressive and creative arts program would need specific permission of the program coordinator.

In this course, students have an opportunity to do hands-on experiential work in the expressive and creative arts as applied to a variety of fields including counseling, education, healthcare, and other helping professions. The emphasis will be on the modalities of expressive movement and theater arts, with the integration of visual arts and writing interwoven as part of the multi-modal and inter-modal approach. A fundamental premise of this course is that the embodied practices of movement and theater arts provide a vital avenue of expression for the inner self while also building inter-personal connections and community. In addition, the multi-modal approach will create opportunities to reflect upon the ways that one mode of expression informs another, so a deeper understanding of the interplay of modalities, as an inter-modal process, will be another area of learning. The course includes a trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. This course is offered in a hybrid format, involving weekend experiential intensives along with guided study time for personal and professional integration. This course is required for the CAGS/CGS in the professional applications of the expressive and creative arts. Any student who would like to register for this course prior to acceptance into the CAGS/CGS expressive and creative arts program would need specific permission of the program coordinator.

This course will explore central concepts and approaches to using the expressive and creative arts with groups and individuals along with the integration and application of this work, applied to a variety of fields including counseling, education, healthcare, and other helping professions. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about the application of experiences with the expressive and creative arts in various settings, and will consider applications for a variety of group, individual and community levels. Students will learn how to design and implement a program with appropriate uses of various arts modalities, as part of an inter-modal arts approach, including movement, sound, writing and the visual arts. In a specific area of professional interest, students will develop a proposal for a program demonstrating the benefits to a specific group or community. The course includes trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. This course is offered in a hybrid format involving weekend experiential intensives along with guided study time for personal and professional integration. This is designed to be one of the final required courses in the CAGS/CGS program and it is advised to have completed at least several other 600-level courses in the Expressive and Creative Arts. To register for this expressive and creative arts CAGS/CGS course requires permission of the Program Coordinator.

This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the principles and applications of expressive writing as a transformational tool that can facilitate emotional, physical and spiritual healing as well as self-discovery, personal growth and conflict resolution. The course will focus on how expressive writing can be used with others in counseling, psychotherapy, healthcare, the arts, education, and community settings. In this course, students will learn how to adapt and integrate expressive writing into their own professional areas of specialization through class discussions and in-class writing exercises that emphasize an inter-modal expressive and creative arts approach to writing. The course includes a trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. This course is offered in a hybrid format involving weekend experiential intensives along with guided study time for personal and professional integration. This course is required for the CAGS/CGS in the Professional Applications of the Expressive and Creative Arts. Any student who would like to register for this course prior to acceptance into the CAGS/CGS Expressive and Creative Arts Program would need specific permission of the program coordinator.

This expressive arts course will deepen one's understanding of the realms of expressive sound, music and rhythm as a means of personal growth, community-building and healing. The specific focal points for the course will include: vocal explorations and toning, elements of music for self-discovery and community-building, creativity and music, and recreational music making. We will also incorporate the practice of deep listening and mindfulness as a touchstone for the explorations. The course combines theory with practical exercises that demonstrate how to integrate them into programs for healing and education, as utilized in a variety of settings. Students will learn how to adapt and integrate elements of expressive sound and music into their professional areas of specialization, including counseling, psychotherapy, healthcare, the arts, education, and community settings, through discussions and the utilization of sound and music-based exercises that emphasize an inter-modal arts approach. The course includes a trauma-informed awareness and offers strategies for adapting Expressive Arts practices to meet the needs of people with different abilities. This course is offered in a hybrid format, involving weekend experiential intensives along with guided study time for personal and professional integration. This course is required for the CAGS/CGS in the professional applications of the expressive and creative arts. Any student who would like to register for this course prior to acceptance into the CAGS/CGS expressive and creative arts program would need specific permission of the program coordinator.