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Alamo Colleges DistrictCareer Explorer

Art Therapists

Part of Health Science, in the Therapeutic Services pathway.

Bright outlookJob zone 5: extensive preparationO*NET 29-1129.01

What the work is

Plan or conduct art therapy sessions or programs to improve clients' physical, cognitive, or emotional well-being.

On a typical day

  • Analyze data to determine the effectiveness of treatments or therapy approaches.
  • Analyze or synthesize client data to draw conclusions or make recommendations for art therapy.
  • Assess client needs or disorders, using drawing, painting, sculpting, or other artistic processes.
  • Communicate client assessment findings and recommendations in oral, written, audio, video, or other forms.
  • Conduct art therapy sessions, providing guided self-expression experiences to help clients recover from, or cope with, cognitive, emotional, or physical impairments.
  • Confer with other professionals on client's treatment team to develop, coordinate, or integrate treatment plans.

What it pays

$80,410
Median pay per year, San Antonio-New Braunfels, TX metro
New workers start near $31,410
Experienced workers reach $129,420
  1. $31k10th
  2. $37k25th
  3. $80kMedian
  4. $115k75th
  5. $129k90th
Wage percentiles: 10th $31,410, 25th $36,640, Median $80,410, 75th $114,850, 90th $129,420

About 110 people do this job in the San Antonio area.

Job outlook

Alamo region (Bexar and 12 surrounding counties), Texas Workforce Commission projection 2024 to 2034. U.S. figures from the BLS for comparison.

+18.7%

employment change in the Alamo region, 379 to 450 jobs · U.S. +12%

31

openings a year in the Alamo region, from growth and people leaving · U.S. 4,100

379

employed in the Alamo region in 2024 · U.S. 56,100

Typical entry education: Bachelor's degree

Skills this career uses

The skills O*NET rates most important for the job, with how much of each the work needs on a 1 to 7 scale.

  1. Social Perceptiveness4.9
  2. Speaking4.1
  3. Active Listening4.0
  4. Reading Comprehension4.0
  5. Critical Thinking4.0
  6. Monitoring4.0
  7. Judgment and Decision Making3.9
  8. Service Orientation4.1

Education people in this job have

Share of workers by highest education, from O*NET surveys. It shows what others did, not what you must do.

  1. Master's degree97%
  2. Doctoral or professional3%

Job zone 5, extensive preparation: A graduate or professional degree, usually after a bachelor's.

Alamo programs that lead here

No Alamo program is mapped to this career yet. Many careers start from a transfer pre-major or a related program.

Browse all programs

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