The five-year-old girl had gone to live with a foster family, but the adjustment was difficult. She couldn't seem to develop affection for the new family because of her emotional attachment to her abusive mother.

She began seeing an art therapist. At one session the therapist entered to find the girl already busily engaged, cutting confetti-size bits of paper into a coffee can. She asked the therapist to join her. When the therapist gently inquired about what they were doing, the girl explained that she was burying her mother's ashes.

Gussie Klorer (standing) coaches students through an art therapy counseling class.

"She knew exactly what she needed to do. She was ready to put that to rest," says Patricia A. "Gussie" Klorer, director of SIUE's graduate art therapy counseling program. "I could never have choreographed it, and if I had, it wouldn't have worked as well."

It's no secret that works of art convey feeling and emotion. But non-artists may be surprised to learn that their creations -- in any medium -- offer art therapy counselors a window into their souls as well. It's the therapist's job to guide the client to an understanding of the feelings expressed in art.

"What we create is a reflection of who we are," Klorer said. "It evokes feelings that we don't habitually think about." The hope is that the process will open the door to a deeper level of communication and offer the opportunity to deal with the feelings in unexpected ways."

Klorer believes that art therapy offers a clearer glimpse into a person's psyche than verbal interchange for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's difficult to put one's feelings into words. For victims of trauma, not talking about the experience may be a defense mechanism. Often words can actually mask feelings because "we all know how to present ourselves and know the right words to say," Klorer said.

"We want clients to be expressive, to be spontaneous," Klorer said. "With adults, getting them to put the first mark on paper is the biggest challenge because you have to get them to let go, to go back to kindergarten."

The goal, of course, is to get clients to make connections between what they draw and who they are. But even if that doesn't happen, "they will feel better just for expressing. The process is so therapeutic it doesn't matter."

When Klorer went searching for a graduate program in art therapy counseling there were only four in the nation. Now the number of schools offering that specialty hovers around 30, SIUE -- the only university in the St. Louis area with an art therapy program -- included. Of the other four such programs in Illinois, three are in Chicago and the fourth is at Normal.

"Art therapy counseling is still a wide-open field," Klorer says. "A lot of people haven't heard of it." As a psychotherapy, it is relatively new, dating back only to the 1930s.

That brings up the question of where SIUE's newly-degreed art therapy counselors find work. Klorer smiles.

"There aren't enough art therapists to go around," she says. "I challenge the students to choose a practicum site that's never had art therapy and create a job. It kind of sells itself."

SIUE's art therapy counseling students spend 20 to 30 hours each week in practicum for a total of 700 clinical hours in at least three different settings before they graduate. "It is intense," Klorer says, "and they're taking classes on top of that," most of which have an experiential component.

The program has more than 60 practicum sites, including St. Louis-area hospitals, correctional facilities, child and adolescent centers, crisis centers and rehabilitation centers.

Klorer, who is a practicing artist in mixed media, also holds down an art therapy counseling practice. She sees about 10 clients each week. She's been widely recognized for her work. In November, she received the 2001 Clinician's Award from the American Art Therapy Association.

A book Klorer wrote last year, "Expressive Therapy with Troubled Children," has been hailed by professionals and educators. It tells the story of Klorer's clinical work with abused children in long-term treatment centers and foster homes.

To Klorer, who has "always been an artist," it's essential that she continue creating her own paintings. "It's always related to some aspect of what I'm doing at the moment." -- Bonnie Marx