Art healing or art therapy? Untangling conceptual confusion in China and advancing a pathway toward community institutionalization

The field of art therapy in China is currently facing severe conceptual confusion between art therapy and art healing. While international scholarship has widely noted the inherently fluid boundaries among these practices, this paper argues that in China, where an institutional vacuum exists, such fluidity has resulted not in productive debate but in a conceptual conflation. This paper examines how such confusion manifests across academic research, educational practices, and the commercial market, arguing that it has led to de-professionalization and hindered the sustainable development of community-based mental health services. Drawing on internationally recognized practice elements of community art therapy, this paper uses a conceptual analysis approach to critically synthesize literature, policy documents, and international professional standards, and proposes that China should establish a threefold institutional pathway comprising certification and regulatory mechanisms, interdisciplinary education, and policy integration. This framework would help delineate conceptual boundaries, advance the professionalization of art therapy, and promote its institutionalization within community settings, thereby enabling art therapy to contribute effectively to public mental health services and social integration.