The event began in 2021 and the therapists call it a "reconnections hui".
It is held every six months with one in the North Island and one in the South Island with 20 arts therapists attending the three-day event.
Northland-based arts therapist Tania Blomfield said she hoped all attendees learned something new.
"For us, it’s a reconnection and a professional development opportunity.
"But also it’s quite common to feel like you’re working in isolation, mainly because a lot of the arts therapists in New Zealand are quite regional."
Arts therapy had been around in New Zealand for about 20 years, she said.
"It works so well for so many people.
"Arts therapy taps more into the subconscious or the unconscious. It cuts through your brain, it stops that logical chatter going on in your brain and it actually means you can get to the heart of the issue a lot quicker, often, than spending hours talking about inconsequential stuff because you can’t find the words to say what you want to say.
"You don’t need to be an artist, which can be a common misconception. In fact if you’re not an artist it works better because you’re not trying to get your technique all fancy or make sure it’s a finished product.
"It’s a multi-modal approach. It’s not just picking up a paintbrush or picking up a pastel and necessarily creating a visual piece of art — it’s a whole combo of stuff."
There is just one arts therapy training institute in New Zealand, Whitecliffe College in Auckland, and it is a clinical master’s programme
Arts therapy is recognised by the ACC and Work and Income but not by Health NZ.
Former Whitecliffe programme director Amanda Levey said arts therapy took a "different approach" from other types of therapy.
"It’s that ability to work creatively and symbolically rather than only using linear sort of step-by-step thinking.
"Often as therapists we find that people will make quite big insights quite quickly because they’re not thinking about it in a way they might talk to a friend or a talk therapist, she said.
"It’s the ability to kind of go beyond the everyday thinking about something."
Elizabeth Love is the only arts therapist working in Oamaru and she is employed at Waitaki Girls’ High School.
