East/West nature of ANZACATA: a perspective on the significance of international connections while asserting Southeast Asian relevance and context in practice and in postgraduate art therapy training

The Australian, New Zealand and Asian Creative Arts Therapies Association (ANZACATA) is uniquely positioned, geographically and philosophically, in terms of art therapy practice, train- ing, and the ongoing development of this discipline in the Asia Paci c region. Acknowledgement of, respective for, and an embracing of culture, cultural traditions, and practices that are culturally relevant are some of the fundamentals at the core of this art therapy membership organization. A critical and multipronged relationship has been established among ANZACATA, Singapore, and the MA Art therapy training program at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore. This article presents a perspective on the development of art therapy in Southeast Asia with consideration to the signi cance of East/West in uences, relations, and training. The aim is to provide a re ective account of the unique East/West nature and role of ANZACATA and on art therapy in Singapore through my role as program leader of the rst and only postgraduate psychodynamic art psycho- therapy training in Southeast Asia. This perspective is further informed through substantial expe- rience as a credentialed art therapist bridging Eastern and Western countries, cultures, clinical practices, and professional art(s) therapy organizations. This article was written and articulated through an expatriate’s informed lens of being immersed in the local culture over an extended period. The discourse highlights the signi cance of international connections while asserting Southeast Asian relevance and context as the discipline of art therapy matures in this region.