Welcome to The Art Therapy Lab!

Research-informed art therapy that strengthens the profession, improves your work, and narrows the research-practice gap

You’re in the right place!
You don’t need to be an academic.
You don’t need a research background.
Your clinical experience matters.
You aren’t research-averse, you just need tools.

You belong here, and together we can change the field.

What is The Art Therapy Lab?

It's a resource, a community, and a movement

📢 A platform for practitioner voices

Your observations matter.

Your innovations deserve recognition.

🔓 A challenge to institutional barriers

Academic jargon, paywalled journals, and old-school hierarchies aren't protecting quality — they're protecting territory.

We're democratizing access to research literacy.

🤝 A collaborative learning community

No gatekeeping. No hierarchy. No academic hoops.

Just art therapists committed to each other's success, learning together and elevating each other.

🛠️ A resource hub

Newsletter, courses, workshops, tools, and strategies to help you confidently read, evaluate, apply, and create research — all built specifically for art therapists.

🔬 A movement to bridge that pesky gap

The research-practice gap exists because practicing art therapists can't get heard.

We’re changing that.

Who is The Art Therapy Lab for?

You're an art therapist and…

🔍 You’re supposed to do “evidence-based practice” but don’t know how.

You read research and think, “That’s not what I see in my office.”

You have big ideas but don’t have enough time or training.

You know it works, but you can’t explain the power of art therapy to clients, their family members, your boss, or your partner.

💡 You have clinical experience and important ideas but feel intimidated (or annoyed) by research

You see gaps in the field but hear, “that’s just the way things are.”

You'd like to "check the literature," but don't have tools or access.

You have a nagging sense that systems of power are keeping your ideas on the outside for a reason.

🎯 Your real-world experience matters, even though it doesn’t get nearly enough attention

You believe that learning together and elevating each other is how we build the field and improve our work.

Others see your question-asking as a burden. You know it’s your power.

🌱 We have resources for:

• Students and new graduates building their confidence

• Seasoned Professionals and their clinical wisdom

• Supervisors and educators training the next generation

• Anyone who believes clinicians belong in the research conversation

No matter where you are in your career, if the research-practice gap feels artificially wide, you belong here.

🚨 Why it Matters 🚨

The field is being shaped by people who aren’t clinicians

📢 Never before has the world been so focused on evidence

That’s not a bad thing, but while you’re doing the work, others are writing the story of what art therapy is, what it should be, and even what it can be.

🌡️ The consequences are real

Funding, jobs, and clinical legitimacy increasingly depend on "evidence" that many art therapists can't articulate in language administrators and funders demand.

Programs get cut when we can't demonstrate outcomes in measurable terms.

🗝️ Because gatekeeping

Institutional barriers keep practicing art therapists and their real-world ideas from reaching the people who need them.

Academic jargon, pay-walled journals, and old-school hierarchies aren't protecting quality, they're protecting territory.

💗 Your impact can grow, but needs a starting point

Your legacy of meaningful change doesn't have to end with your direct client work.

The right skills let you influence treatment approaches, train the next generation, and shape policy.

🎯 But here’s the truth

Practicing art therapists are doing the work but aren’t part of the conversation.

(I know, because I’ve been an art therapist for longer than most grad students have been alive.)

Your wisdom from thousands of client hours? That's data.

Your innovative approaches? That's research waiting to happen.

Your confusion about what research actually says and what it means for you and your clients in the real world? Well… that might be built into the system.

If you don't have the tools to move with the field (or move the field yourself), your wisdom dies when you retire.

Member Perks

Everything you need to bridge the research-practice gap without going back to school

📚 Research made useful

• A free newsletter with no spam, ever

• Studies translated into language that you can actually use

• Tools to decode academic jargon and spot research BS

🛠️ Practical skills & resources

• Step-by-step guides for understanding and evaluating research

• Educational resources to fill the gaps from grad school (they couldn’t teach you everything, and being an effective art therapist comes first)

• Scientifically-sound strategies to get your ideas into the world

🤝 A community that has your back

• Art therapists committed to each other's success

• A no-hater collaboration

• Collaborative learning without jumping through academic hoops

• Early access to courses and resources built specifically for your needs

Who’s behind The Art Therapy Lab?

Hi, I’m Malissa Morrell 👩🏻‍🔬

ATR-BC | ATCS | LMFT | PhD Student
Practicing Art Therapist | Supervisor | Educator

How I got here

I've been practicing art therapy for more than 20 years, supervising for nearly that long, and teaching graduate student therapists for over 10 years.

Like you, I was told that research should inform my practice. Unfortunately, no one taught me how.

So I went back to school for a PhD.

Now, I'm on a mission: to help you become a confident, research-informed art therapist without having to go back to school.

My Approach

• Practitioner voices come first, always

• Real-world application — tools you can use today

• Democratizing access, challenging gatekeeping

• Accessible, jargon-free teaching for real humans

• Anti-racism and social justice built in, not added on

• Community over competition — we rise together

Why the Lab Exists

Here’s what I believe

Art therapy research is sparse, under-disseminated, and not rigorous enough.

They think our work has no evidence.

But our education didn’t give us the tools we need to implement scientific findings, let alone conduct our own research.

Meanwhile, we’re out here trying to prove our worth in an “evidence-based” world.

🚫 It doesn’t have to be this way

Academic jargon, pay-walled journals, and old-school hierarchies aren’t protecting quality — they’re protecting territory.

🏆 You deserve better

Your clinical experience is evidence.

You’re observing and recording data every single session.

You just need some guidance about what that means and what to do with it.

You don’t need to go back to school. You just need the right tools and a supportive community.

That’s what The Art Therapy Lab is here for.

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