Human-Centered AI for Expressive Arts Therapy

Expressive arts therapy supports creative expression through visual art, music, dance, and drama, fostering emotional awareness, regulation, and personal growth. Recent advances in generative AI, particularly multimodal models that produce images, music, text, and soundscapes, create new opportunities to scaffold creative exploration, provide adaptive prompts, and support reflective dialogue in therapeutic contexts. At the same time, integrating AI into expressive arts therapy raises important challenges around agency, authorship, emotional alignment, ethics, data privacy, and preserving therapeutic relationships.

This workshop brings together researchers, designers, therapists, and practitioners to explore how human-centered AI can support creativity in art and music therapy while respecting therapeutic values. We focus on insights from AI-enabled therapy systems, design approaches balancing creativity and emotional well-being, and evaluation methods that extend beyond usability and traditional clinical outcomes. Through interdisciplinary discussion, the workshop aims to surface open research questions and design considerations for AI use in expressive arts therapy.

Advances in generative and multimodal AI are opening new possibilities for supporting creativity, emotional expression, and mental well-being. At the same time, integrating AI into expressive arts therapy raises critical questions about agency, ethics, evaluation, and the role of human care. This workshop brings together researchers, designers, artists, and therapists to critically examine how human-centered AI can support—rather than undermine—creative therapeutic practices.

We invite participants to submit short position papers, case studies describing completed, ongoing, or planned work, or reflective pieces on prior research (2–4 pages, ACM format). We also welcome alternative contributions, such as interactive or video demos and posters, that engage with topics including, but not limited to:

• AI-supported creativity in art or music therapy
• Design and evaluation of AI systems for mental well-being
• Ethical, cultural, and methodological challenges in creative AI for care
• Practitioner perspectives on AI in therapeutic settings
• Speculative or critical approaches to AI and creative therapy

Submissions should describe the contributor’s perspective, experience, or open questions rather than polished results. Selected participants will be invited to give a lightning talk and/or present a poster or demo during the workshop.

Please submit materials via the workshop website by May 15, 2026 (tentative). At least one author of each accepted submission must attend the workshop in person. We welcome interdisciplinary and exploratory contributions and encourage submissions from both academic and practitioner communities.