08/10/2025
Symbiotic Trees:
A Cross-Cultural Dialogue in Art Healing
From October 17 to 19, 2025, the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Narrative Drawing Institute will join hands for the third time to host the “Symbiotic Trees — 2025 International Conference of Art Therapists & 10 Tears of Narrative Drawing Intervention« Tour”. This grand gathering will bring together top experts from around the globe—from Germany and Lebanon to India and Singapore—to explore how art transcends language and culture to become a universal language for healing the soul.
The Many Forms of Expressive Arts Therapy
Expressive arts therapy blooms with unique brilliance across the world. Cornelia Elbrecht (Germany/Australia), a master art therapist, will share body-oriented trauma healing techniques; Israel’s Yael Livneh will discuss artistic interventions in the shadow of war; India’s Krupa Jhaveri will demonstrate the transformative power of myth and ritual in therapy. Let us follow the footsteps of Hong Kong’s Monica Wong to witness the global spread and development of Narrative Drawing Intervention« (NDI). Though expressive arts therapy practices vary from country to country like a hundred flowers blooming, they all share the same core: art is a symbiotic tree of human growth and creativities.
Healing Roots in Cultural Soil
Art therapy must be rooted in cultural context. Professor Liu Zhengkui of the Chinese Academy of Sciences will analyze localized approaches to post-disaster psychological intervention; Hong Kong’s Lesley Leung will explore how music serves families with special needs within Chinese society. From Lebanon’s Anita Toutikian, who uses art as a universal language to help children express indescribable experiences, emotions, and inner worlds, to Japan’s Eriyo Watanabe’s incense-based expressive therapy, each culture grows its own unique tree of healing.
From Clinic to Life: Practical Applications
Expressive arts therapy has long broken free from traditional clinical settings. Russia’s Yana Yakimova will share explorations of personality through theater; Singapore’s Jeanette Chan will discuss the practice of art-based stress reduction in daily life; Hong Kong’s Wandy Wan, Sylvia Chung and Ally P**n, will demonstrate the application of NDI theory among diverse student backgrounds (including those with special educational needs, delinquent youth, and college students). Art therapy enters communities, campuses, and everyday life, becoming a daily medium for self-care.
NDI: The International Journey of a local school
Narrative Drawing Intervention« (NDI), originating in Hong Kong, has been brought to the world by its founder Monica Wong. From elderly immigrants in San Francisco’s quarantine camp to students on the high plateau of DegΘ, NDI integrates Eastern cultural core with Western psychological frameworks to form a unique psychotherapeutic model. This conference will showcase NDI’s practical applications in China, the United States, India, Nepal, and Indonesia, witnessing how a local school dialogues with the world. "Symbiotic Trees" is not only the theme of the international conference but also a metaphor for the future of healing: art therapy across different cultural contexts is like trees in a symbiotic forest, their roots intertwined yet each growing toward the sky. We sincerely invite you to step into this forest and listen to the orchestra among the trees.
#敘事治療 #繪畫治療 #藝術治療 #療癒 #異樹共生 #愛自己是終身浪漫的開始 #生活平衡先可以享受人生 #放鬆心情❤️ #自癒 #喜歡畫畫 #喜歡就關注我吧 #了解自己 #個人成長 #情緒價值 #情緒健康 #證書課程
