Welcome to Northwest Creative and Expressive Arts Institute

We provide quality education in the Expressive and Creative Arts in our beautiful studio in Seattle, and online for all!

Interested in our Expressive Arts Professional Certificate Training Program?
We are now accepting applications for our Clinical Hybrid cohort!
Learn more here!

Learn more about Professional training in Expressive arts 

Join one of our upcoming Information and/or Mini Expressive Arts Session! These are FREE, but registration is required.
Click on the date(s) and time(s) that work for you and sign up to learn more,

Friday May 22 | 8:00 – 9:00am PT – Information Session: Register here
Friday May 22| 4:00 – 5:00pm PT – Mini Expressive Arts Session: Register here

Check out our upcoming CE Trainings & Community Workshops! 
Don’t miss these great opportunities! You can also check out our calendar of events.

Complete list of all upcoming workshops
CE Credits & clock hour information
Want to host a workshop for your group/staff? Help us grow! donate today

Learn More

Why Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy?

Expressive Arts Therapy is a multi-modality, integrative approach to working with the creative arts. We use visual arts, drama, music, writing, sand tray, and movement to explore the experience of being human and foster growth and healing.

By including the arts in the therapeutic process, we are employing a modality to consider qualitative aspects of the person that are not readily measured by quantitative, laboratory-based methods, although there is a large and growing body of evidence of its effectiveness. The literature suggests, and we have found in our own Art Therapy and Expressive Arts Therapy practice the following:

    • Expressive Arts Therapy is Expansive. Over the last fifty years, it has become clear that traditional forms of psychotherapy have limited effectiveness for many people.
    • Expressive Arts Therapy Engages the Whole Being. For optimal health, we need to be able to connect feelings and ideas (both right and left hemispheres of the brain), to link past and present, to make sense of the now, and to plan for the future. Engaging in the creative arts, whether visual, drama, movement, writing, or music provides this opportunity.
    • Expressive Arts Therapy is a Bridge. Offering a way to make contact, connect, and begin a meaningful dialogue for those who may have difficulty expressing themselves in traditional talk therapy.
    • Expressive Arts Therapy Holds Space. The creative arts provide an opportunity for the safe expression of feelings, creating a “boundary” or “container” where previously there may have been none.
    • Expressive Arts Therapy is Client-Centered. The client has the opportunity to work with both the process of creating, as well as the product/outcome.
    • Expressive Arts Therapy Helps Tell a Story. Engaging in the creative arts can be part of how a client tells their story. Through visual art, drama, music, writing, movement, and sand tray, there are opportunities to explore one’s story and gain awareness and insight to generate healing, and new narratives.

The NWCEAI Seattle Studio: 1631 15th Ave. W., suite 305. We’re in the Interbay WorkLofts complex.

Listen to Dr. Sibel Golden on the Opal Food & Body Wisdom podcast: The Appetite Episode #46: Self-Care in Practice: An Interview with Sibel Golden, PhD