As the only Master of Arts in Art Therapy program in Northern California, Dominican University of California offers an intimate on-campus learning environment designed to prepare students for successful careers in art therapy while encouraging the artistic and therapeutic process.
This site brings together a collection of master's theses and doctoral dissertations from the students of the Art Therapy program.
Theses/Capstones from 2025
A Happy Medium?: Using Image Generators to Explore Solution-Focused Art Therapy’s Miracle Question, Daniel A. Hernried
Altered Book Making with Siblings of Adults with Schizophrenia: A Mixed Methods Approach, Anna-Marie M. Vargas
Death, End-of-Life Doulas, and Art: Exploring Connections Between Death Competency and Art Making, Jill K. Hoefgen
Identity Formation in Adolescents using Assemblage and Found Objects, Sahar Mozaffar
Mixed Methods Study on The Impact of Coloring Mandalas on Emotional Regulation, Mindfulness, and Attachment Style in Adults, Rachel N. Faas
Parents With Low Mood and Their Child: Exploring the Effects of Group Art Therapy, Allison M. Pierce-Gay
Understanding the Intersection Between Alaska Native and Military Cultural Identities: Using Arts-Based Narrative Inquiry with Mixed Methods, Leslie M. Robertson
Theses/Capstones from 2024
Adolescents, Complex Trauma, and Making Meaning Through Art, Teresa N. Grame
An Integrative Somatic Art Therapy Approach: EMDR & Body-Based Practices for Traumatic Stress, Alexis Sorbara
Art-based Autoethnographic Study of a Senior Professional Woman of Color's Journey, Raceal McWhorter
Art Therapy Assessment and Sense of Safety, Sophie C. Restall
Befriending Your Anxiety Through the Polyvagal Lens by Utilizing Embodied Imagery, Cassandra Lacroix
Chosen Family in LGBTQ+ Community: Creating Feeling of Safety Through Collage in Art Therapy, Zaina Berger
Exploring the Effects of Art Therapy Interventions on Self-Evaluations of Food Addiction: A Randomized Control Study, Dawn Fiacco
Fantasia on a Theme of Purpose: Using a Music-Guided Scribble Technique to Support Meaning-Making in Older Adult Retiree Musicians, Sophia R. Smith
Intuition and Insight in Art Therapy, Samantha Mach
Mindfulness-based Art Therapy: The Effects of Art Media on Mindfulness and Stress Reduction in College Students, Isabella Sziraczky
My Body as a Journey Accessing Pre-colonial Identity for Healing Intergenerational Transgender Shame, Jennifer Lagman
Online Friendships and the Bird’s Nest Drawing in the Age of the Internet, Ian Wong
Theses/Capstones from 2023
Clay Use as Mindfulness for Women in Early Substance Use Recovery, Cheryl Feldman
Cultural Identity of And Implications for Later Generational Hispanic and Latino Populations In The United States, Tara Bustamante
Evoking the Art of Nature, Tessa R. Evans Keime
Exploring the Connection between Social Media & Body-Image and the Impact of Art Therapy Interventions on a Woman’s Self-Esteem, Courtney Engelhardt
In-Between Space: Latinas Sharing their Stories of Cultural Integration, Maria Elena Fuster
Memes to Cope and Communicate, Priscilla (Nox) Ngo
The Course of COVID: How Has the Pandemic Changed the Ways Therapists Use Art in Their Therapeutic Practice?, Deborah Sharpe
Theses/Capstones from 2022
Art Making To Reduce Stress in First-Generation and Second-Generation Hispanic Immigrant Parents, Maria Zepeda
Does Attachment Predict Coping Strategies? An In-Depth Look At Millennials During COVID-19, Clinton Johnson
Doodling as Self-Expression: Building Self-Efficacy in Normally Functioning Adults, Journey Coward
Failure: A Heuristic Inquiry of the Experience of Failure Through a Nature Based Art Therapy Process, Lisa Manthe
Healing Racial Trauma and Reframing the Miseducation of U.S. America: Altering Exclusionary Textbooks as a Therapeutic Experiential, Kamaria Erin Wells
Illuminating the Increase of Intentional Dating in the COVID-19 Pandemic and its Connection to Relationship Satisfaction through the Lens of Photography., Caitlin Carnegie
Putting the Pieces Back Together: Using a Kintsugi-Influenced Directive to Promote Self-Forgiveness and Resiliency in Young Adults with Shame and Guilt, Marieev Krista Princer
The Therapeutic Benefits of Children’s Literature: Responding Through Making Art and Writing Stories, Janae Dueck
Theses/Capstones from 2021
An Art-Based Heuristic Study: How a Male Student with Asperger’s Syndrome Completed an Art Therapy Master’s Program, Stephen David Robertson
COVID-19: Our Hopes and Dreams, Anna Bazis Christie
Individual versus Sequential: The Potential of Comic Creation in Art Therapy, Christine Phang
Perspectives of a Diasporan: A Heuristic, Arts-Based Inquiry of the Importance of Therapy in Armenia, Anna Nairi Muradyan
Where the Glass Glows: Unpacking the Therapeutic Experiences of Adult Students in a Community-Based Open Glass Studio During a Pandemic, Shelly A. Palmer
Theses/Capstones from 2020
Ambiguous Loss of Dementia: Identity Exploration through Narrative Inquiry and Collage, Kayla Ormandy