Alexander Kopytin, MD, Prof., Department of Psychology, SPbAPPO, Chair, Russian Art Therapy Association (RF)

The report presents the tasks and forms of art therapy in the context of the sustainable development model - a new ideology of a culture of peace, tolerance, gender, confessional and ethnic equality. The most important element of sustainable development is the ecosystem and natural resource basis of life, which presupposes the preservation of environmental and resource living conditions for future generations. The specificity of social, in particular, environmentally-oriented art therapy in its connection with the forms with the strategies of contemporary art as well as the foundations of the eco-human concept of creation, which combines natural and socio-cultural aspects are explained.

Barbara Parker-Bell, PsyD. ATR-BC, Director of Art Therapy, Florida State University, Art Education Department (Tallahassee, FL, USA)

This presentation will report the experiences and outcomes of students engaged in a Studio Art & Self-care Concepts class. The class included three 3-hour sessions in which students were called to explore eco-art therapy concepts through creative outdoor experiences. Students were given options to meet with the instructor and to engage in art making together at safe social distances or to work individually in a natural setting of their own choice. Following each class, students presented their artistic experiences and statements in the class's online forum.

Ephrat Huss is a supervising level art therapist, and senior professor, who chairs an MA in Art Therapy for Social workers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel. She has published over 80 articles and 6 theoretical and edited books on art therapy and arts-based research within social contexts. She has also received competitive grants, provided plenary lectures, and lead a shift towards social critical theories within art therapy.

While there is much literature on art therapy in contexts of trauma and disaster, there is less literature on how art therapy can engage with a long-term "shared reality" community level crises such as the current COVID-19 pandemic. This world-wide community pandemic has created new paradigm shifts within art therapy towards a more community, systemic and strengths-based art therapy, that has much enriched art therapy. This lecture will outline central theoretical and methodological developments in this direction, to enrich the tool kits of art therapists to contribute to their communities in times of crises and transition.

Ruth Hampe, Prof.Dr.phil.habil.em.in the faculty of inclusive education at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences in Freiburg, licensed child and adolescent psychotherapist (KJP), trained in guided affective imaginative psychotherapy (KIP), graduated art therapist (DGKT), chairperson of the German section of IGKGT and on the board of the German Society for Artistic Therapy (DGKT)

In refugee work - whether with children, adolescents or adults - the space-time continuum in coming together is of importance. When D.W. Winnicott speaks of the intermediate space in the therapeutic setting, it becomes clear how important this is in refugee work. The memory of the past, the home, but also an orientation towards the new in the creation of perspective forms of life become the main focus. On the one hand, it includes a certainty of where I come from - partly with nostalgic endeavors. On the other hand, it is also characterized by the search for security in the here and now. For example, motifs such as "The house" or "A place of wellbeing in nature" form thematic aspects that are repeatedly expressed in the visual design, both for adults and for children who have fled the country. The variation of the motif offers the possibility of creating a space for oneself or the surrounding, securing it and making it possible to arrive. Aspects of idealization as well as needs for a place of retreat can emerge that contrast with the individual life situation in the refugee home. The approach of the contribution is to show this ambivalence on the basis of exemplary created objects in the art therapeutic sessions and to present it for discussion.

Natalia Nazarova, Cand. Psychol. Sciences; Member of the Council, Full and Honorary member of the National Association for the Development of Art Therapeutic Science and Practice "Art Therapy Association"

Due to the challenged situation of COVID-19 pandemic and the quarantine restrictions, many specialists have switched partially or completely to work online. The report considers various challenges and assets of conducting art therapy online. Special attention is paid to the issues of online art therapy training. It will reveal both the difficulties faced by specialists in art therapy and the opportunities that arise in connection with a new form of art therapy work.