From Canvas to Care: Artistic Interventions as Multimodal Therapeutics in Child and Adolescent Mental Health

Creative, multimodal approaches to mental health care are gaining traction in response to the increasingly complex needs of children and adolescents. Visual art, music, dance, drama, and multimodal digital platforms are not only forms of expression but powerful vehicles for therapeutic intervention, particularly for populations where verbal language is limited, developing, culturally specific, or disrupted due to trauma or neurodivergence.

This Research Topic explores the evidence base, theoretical frameworks, and practical applications of arts-based and arts-integrated interventions that promote psychological well-being, social-emotional regulation, communication development, and inclusive participation in both the clinic and the school settings. It invites interdisciplinary perspectives that converge from mental health services, inclusive education, speech-language pathology, expressive arts therapy, and child development research.

Drawing inspiration from early art-making interventions, trauma-informed dance and music therapy in paediatric hospices and detention centres, and culturally responsive practices such as storytelling with refugee and CALD children, this Topic calls for a re-examination of what constitutes valid, effective, and inclusive therapeutic practice.

By highlighting the multisensory, embodied, relational, and symbolic dimensions of the arts, this collection seeks to:
• Illuminate the mechanisms by which art-making facilitates healing, meaning-making, and co-regulation
• Advance the role of artistic practices in mental health early intervention and prevention
• Build bridges between creative expression and core developmental goals (e.g., attachment, language, agency, self-regulation)
• Explore implementation of arts-based therapeutics in mainstream, special education, hospital, residential, and community settings
• Emphasise inclusive practices for children and youth from diverse linguistic, cultural, and ability backgrounds

Ultimately, this Research Topic seeks to move "from canvas to care"—broadening the scope of clinical imagination and bringing together global innovations that humanise mental health care for young people.

Submissions may include, but are not limited to:
• Experimental and clinical studies of art, music, dance, or drama therapy with children and adolescents
• Implementation research on integrating arts into mental health services in education, hospital, or community settings
• Co-designed or participatory arts-based projects with youth, families, or practitioners
• Theoretical or conceptual papers on multisensory meaning-making, therapeutic relationships through art, or arts as trauma-informed practice
• Case studies illustrating culturally responsive and inclusive arts-based interventions
• Policy-focused perspectives on the integration of the arts in child mental health care systems

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Multimodal therapeutics, Child and adolescent mental health, Artistic interventions, Creative expression, Non-verbal communication, Expressive arts therapy, Psychological well-being, Social-emotional regulation, Trauma-informed therapy, Cultural responsiveness, Inclusive therapeutic practice, Multisensory healing, Early interevention, Creative arts in education, Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) populations

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.