June 8, 2025
The American Art Therapy Association represents a diversity of professionals, students, and organizations across the nation. We recognize and celebrate the work of our members at all levels through our Featured Member series.
Has working with a particular client group shaped your professional focus or specialty? What have you learned from working with these clients?
I worked for 22 years with inpatient adults and adolescents. I learned so much about the human mind and human nature. Mostly, I learned from their imagery and how it represented their interior world.
What excites you most about your job right now?
I really get inspired by students—their passion, struggles, and aspirations.
“I am an art therapist who strongly believes in the insight we gain through expressing our ideas in art while in the presence of another. It is powerful how much we learn about ourselves and others, which ultimately frees us from defensive restrictions.”
— Nancy Gerber, PhD, ATR-BC
What advice would you give someone interested in pursuing a career in art therapy?
I would say you need to want to learn about people alongside them as they unfold their story in images and metaphors.
How have race, diversity, and/or social justice impacted your work as an art therapist?
I mostly teach and do research, so I am always learning about new perspectives and embedded systemic biases. It is a never-ending learning process, and I enjoy it! It enriches my life!
What’s your engagement with AATA?
I currently volunteer as a Subcommittee Chair and Committee Member. I am committed to encouraging doctoral education and research.
About Nancy Gerber, PhD, ATR-BC
Nancy Gerber, PhD, ATR-BC, is Teaching Faculty in the Art Therapy Program at Florida State University. She is also an Associate Clinical Professor Emerita and the founding director of the Ph.D. Program in Creative Arts Therapies at Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Gerber’s scholarship focuses on doctoral education, art therapy research, strategic planning, and arts-based research. Dr. Gerber co-created the Arts-Based Research Global Consortium to advance socially responsible arts-based research. She is a co-researcher and developer of the Art Therapy Research Community Network. She has recently published a book entitled Imagination and Arts-Based Practices for Integration in Research. Dr Gerber has received the American Art Therapy Association’s Award for Distinguished Educator and Florida State University’s Award for Outstanding Graduate Teaching.