“I Am Actually Growing My Art”: Building an Expressive Terrarium as an Intervention Tool in Arts Therapy

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Expressive Terrarium is a new intervention tool in the field of ecological arts therapy. The terrarium is a glass bowl containing plants and other objects from nature, art materials, as well as miniature and found objects. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from a sample of students and administrative staff from the same college to better understand the experiential process for future use as a clinical intervention tool. The findings showed that both groups had high positive attitudes toward the terrarium experience. The qualitative data showed that the participants experienced feelings of enjoyment and a sense of calm while engaged in building and tending their terrariums. The terrarium was perceived as enabling self-expression and as a symbolic-narrative-oriented personal space. Thus, this preliminary mixed-method study suggests that the Expressive Terrarium could be implemented in individual and group therapy or as a community-based intervention in schools and academia.