The current research regarding the usefulness of art therapy interventions with bipolar disordered adolescents is limited. This case study examines the efficacy of art therapy interventions with a 13-year-old African American male client. At the time the case study was conducted, the subject was a client in a residential treatment facility for emotionally and behaviorally troubled adolescents. The results of the case study indicated that art therapy enabled this particular client, who was normally treatment resistant, to cultivate a therapeutic relationship with the art therapist and visually explore his feelings even when he was unable to verbalize them.
The art therapy sessions also allowed the art therapist to identify oncoming cycles of mania through the client's responses to both the art therapist and the the various art interventions. Finally, the art therapist also discovered that this client became engaged towards therapeutic art tasks that reflected his hobbies and interests.