Call for Papers: Carving Our Paths
Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Call for Papers
Carving Our Paths: Entrepreneurial, Intrapreneurial, and Advocacy in Art Therapy
Co-Guest Editor: Sharona Bookbinder
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2025
As art therapy continues to expand across diverse communities and systems, art therapists are increasingly taking on roles that require entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial thinking and advocacy. Intrapreneurial includes the work of art therapists who make changes and progress from within organizations. From private practice to community-based programs, and from social enterprises to public policy influence, art therapists are creating new paths to support diverse individuals and communities with our unique skills and with an anti-oppressive lens. Yet, this growth is not without challenges—navigating burnout, financial sustainability, systemic barriers, and ethical complexities in entrepreneurial contexts requires innovation, resilience, self-compassion, and collective insight.
This special issue of the Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Research, Practice, and Issues / Revue canadienne d’art-thérapie: recherche, pratique et enjeux seeks to explore how art therapists are engaging in entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and advocacy to promote equity, compassionate care, well-being, and systemic change with a Two-Eyed Seeing approach (Bartlette et al., 2012). We welcome contributions that highlight strategies, theoretical frameworks, case studies, and reflexive inquiries into the entrepreneurial and intrapreneurship dimensions of art therapy as we carve new paths forward. This includes ways in which practitioners advocate for the field and themselves, expand access to services, and design sustainable models of care—especially in under-resourced, rural, and marginalized contexts.
We invite art therapy researchers, educators, practitioners, and students to submit manuscripts that critically explore or creatively represent entrepreneurial, intrapreneurship, and advocacy efforts that push the boundaries of conventional practice. These may include explorations of leadership, social innovation, private practice, interdisciplinary partnerships, and ethical entrepreneurship.
Rationale and Potential Impact
Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and advocacy within art therapy have the potential to:
Advance Public Access: Entrepreneurial and intrapreneurship approaches can enhance accessibility to art therapy by creating new service delivery models that reach underserved populations, including culturally diverse, rural, and remote communities.
Inform Policy and Funding: Advocacy through research and practice can influence health and education policy, increase funding for art therapy services, and contribute to job creation within the profession.
Promote Professional Identity and Visibility: Sharing entrepreneurial, intrapreneurship, and advocacy work through publications helps establish art therapy’s relevance across disciplines and strengthens professional identity.
Support Practitioner Well-being: Exploring models of sustainable entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship may help address practitioner burnout, ethical dilemmas, and boundary-setting in solo or collaborative work settings.
Integrate Social Justice: Entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and advocacy grounded in anti-oppressive, decolonial, and community-based frameworks can support equity, reconciliation, and culturally responsive practice.
Types of Contributions
We welcome a variety of article types including but not limited to:
Case studies or reflections on developing and sustaining private practices or social enterprises.
Research articles examining outcomes, policy papers, or models of art therapy entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship.
Arts-based inquiries into advocacy, leadership, or practitioner identity within entrepreneurial and intrapreneurship contexts.
Soundings and opinion pieces reflecting on ethical tensions, systemic challenges, or burnout in self-directed work.
Practice-based submissions describing innovative service delivery models or partnerships.
Diverse Reviews exploring literature related to creative entrepreneurship, funding, and advocacy in art therapy and related disciplines.
Cover artwork and artist statements reflecting entrepreneurial journeys or visions for advocacy in the field.
Submissions from students and emerging practitioners reflecting on preparing for entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial roles in art therapy.
References
Bartlett, C., Marshall, M., & Marshall, A. (2012). Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together Indigenous and Western knowledges and ways of knowing. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2(4), 331–340. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-012-0086-8
Bookbinder, S. (2024). The business of art therapy: Exploring art therapists’ professional sustainability in Canada through extrinsic factors and systems of influence (Le marché de l’art-thérapie : exploration de la durabilité professionnelle des art-thérapeutes au Canada au travers des facteurs extrinsèques et des systèmes d’influence). Canadian Journal of Art Therapy, 37(1), 86–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/26907240.2024.2339401
DeLucia, J. M., & Linsner, R. K. (2025). Creating impactful change: An exploration of art therapists experiences related to social entrepreneurship. Art Therapy, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421656.2025.2461871
Types of Articles Accepted
The Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Research, Practice, and Issues welcomes submissions in the following categories:
Cover Artwork: Submit a JPEG artwork and a brief artist statement (200–400 words).
Art Therapy Research Articles (2,000–4,000 words): Empirical studies grounded in theory and methodology.
Art Therapy in Practice (2,000–3,000 words): Descriptions of practical interventions based in literature.
Art Therapy Approaches (2,000–3,000 words): Theoretical explorations or conceptual models.
Soundings (up to 2,000 words): Creative reflections, proposals, and perspectives.
Book Reviews: Contact the editor directly at journal@canadianarttherapy.org.
Submission Instructions
Submit your manuscript via our Editorial Manager system: https://www.editorialmanager.com/ucat/default.aspx
Please ensure that:
Submissions are in MS Word format and anonymized.
Manuscripts are double-spaced, with 1-inch margins.
Pages are numbered consecutively and include an abstract (100–250 words).
APA 7th edition guidelines are followed for style and referencing.
Full submission guidelines are available at:
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=ucat20&page=instructions
We look forward to your contributions.
Sincerely,
Haley Toll
Editor
Canadian Journal of Art Therapy: Research, Practice, and Issues
Revue canadienne d’art-thérapie : recherche, pratique et enjeux
For more information, please see: https://www.canadianarttherapy.org/submissions/
