'The Survey of Art Therapy' class was the first class on that was taught at Stella Maris college, Chennai, India.    

The planning for this class took several years. Over the last few visits to India, it was evident that there was a need for an art therapy course.  I realized that there were several obstacles regarding commencing a new program.  The biggest hurdle to was funding with a serious shortage of resources, mainly a teaching staff. Art Therapy was still in it's infancy in India and I was determined to introduce it in the correct manner.  I had to take into account not only the cultural factors, but also ethical issues while introducing a new concept and field of study.

After several meetings with The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., and Stella Maris College, Chennai, India, I was able to establish a connection between the two institutions.  This connection, I hoped, would help both institutions expand art therapy through transfer of knowledge and to create possibilities for student internships and international exchange. 

My role in this process has been to facilitate the communication between the two institutions, along with procuring the right teaching staff, understanding the Indian environment, working out the logistics of program development and overseeing the overall curriculum of the program.

I was able to secure funding to send Jen Kristal to teach the 'Survey of Art Therapy' class.  This was a one month class and was very well received.  Jen provided a wonderful learning environment in which students were not only introduced to the basics of art therapy, but experienced how art as well as other expressive modalities are used in therapy.  She was able to use my book, "Creative Expressions: Say it with Art"  and added other readings based on a syllabus from GWU and Berlington College.  The survey class also organized field trips to two schools and a counseling center. The final papers reflected an understanding of the field of art therapy and it's applications. 

I have been happy with this class and hope to start work on planning a 3 or 6 month program.  This will once again depend on funding, teaching resource and other factors.