New York Laws
Article 163 - Mental Health Practitioners
8404 - Creative Arts Therapy.

(a) the assessment, evaluation, and the therapeutic intervention and
treatment, which may be either primary, parallel or adjunctive, of
mental, emotional, developmental and behavioral disorders through the
use of the arts as approved by the department; and
(b) the use of assessment instruments and mental health counseling and
psychotherapy to identify, evaluate and treat dysfunctions and disorders
for purposes of providing appropriate creative arts therapy services.
2. Practice of creative arts therapy and use of the titles "creative
arts therapist" and "licensed creative arts therapist". Only a person
licensed or exempt under this article shall practice creative arts
therapy or use the title "creative arts therapist". Only a person
licensed under this article shall use the title "licensed creative arts
therapist" or any other designation tending to imply that the person is
licensed to practice creative arts therapy.
3. Requirements for a professional license. To qualify for a license
as a "licensed creative arts therapist", an applicant shall fulfill the
following requirements:
(a) Application: File an application with the department;
(b) Education: Have received an education, including a master's or
higher degree in creative arts therapy from a program registered by the
department or determined by the department to be the substantial
equivalent thereof, in accordance with the commissioner's regulations.
The graduate coursework shall include, but not be limited to, the
following areas:
(i) human growth and development;
(ii) theories in therapy;
(iii) group dynamics;
(iv) assessment and appraisal of individuals and groups;
(v) research and program evaluation;
(vi) professional orientation and ethics;
(vii) foundations of creative arts therapy and psychopathology; and
(viii) clinical instruction;
(c) Experience: Have completed at least fifteen hundred hours of
postmaster's supervised experience in one or more creative arts
therapies satisfactory to the department and in accordance with the
commissioner's regulations. Satisfactory experience obtained in an
entity operating under a waiver issued by the department pursuant to
section sixty-five hundred three-a of this title may be accepted by the
department, notwithstanding that such experience may have been obtained
prior to the effective date of such section sixty-five hundred three-a
and/or prior to the entity having obtained a waiver. The department may,
for good cause shown, accept satisfactory experience that was obtained
in a setting that would have been eligible for a waiver but which has
not obtained a waiver from the department or experience that was
obtained in good faith by the applicant under the belief that
appropriate authorization had been obtained for the experience, provided
that such experience meets all other requirements for acceptable
experience;
(d) Examination: Pass an examination in creative arts therapy
satisfactory to the department and in accordance with the commissioner's
regulations;
(e) Age: Be at least twenty-one years of age;
(f) Character: Be of good moral character as determined by the
department; and
(g) Fees: Pay a fee of one hundred seventy-five dollars for an initial
license and a fee of one hundred seventy dollars for each triennial
registration period.