UIndy Art Therapy Partnership Creates a More Colorful Future for All
Creativity is bursting from the seams at Noble Art, Noble’s newest location in Speedway for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The space features an art studio and gallery to promote sales of individual art.
Inside a room filled with about a dozen artists, each person is focused on their own project. At one table, a man paints straight lines on a canvas in the style of Gene Davis, seated next to another artist bringing to life a chocolate lab with a tennis ball. At the next table, a woman carefully adds plastic melting beads to her hedgehog pegboard, while her friend works on a sea turtle.
Helping guide all the creative work are Emily Van Veld ’26 (Mental Health Counseling, Art Therapy) and Breanna Emmett ’24 (Art, Creative Writing). Van Veld is a current UIndy art therapy student completing her internship at Noble Art as part of a new partnership between the University and Noble. Emmett works full-time as an art specialist with the adult day program at Noble where she helps clients explore different forms of creative expression.
While Noble Art’s programming centers on therapeutic art—using art as a creative activity to support personal expression, bring joy and relieve stress—Van Veld’s presence brings a formal art therapy component into the creations. That means using the creative process of art in a more intentional and clinically informed way to help Noble clients communicate, process emotions and work toward individualized goals under professional supervision.
For Van Veld, the yearlong internship has provided an opportunity to experience how what she’s learning in the classroom can translate into meaningful work with an underserved population whose needs are often overlooked or misunderstood.
“Art is a way to express yourself without having to use words,” said Van Veld. “This population is often overlooked when it comes to mental health. If they can meet with a clinician who is willing to take the time to hear them and hear their story, the world opens up for them. I’ve seen the transformation that a lot of my clients have had because they’ve been able to tell their story.”
Van Veld’s path to UIndy was shaped by family. Her mother and aunt are both UIndy graduates—one in physical therapy and one in occupational therapy—so Van Veld grew up seeing the impact of helping professions firsthand. Her own mental health journey, her lifelong connection to art and her passion for working with people with disabilities led her toward art therapy, a field that brought those interests together.
The opportunity for students like Van Veld to put their education into practice is exactly what Michelle Itczak, associate professor and director of the Counseling and Art Therapy program in the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, was looking for when UIndy first began working with Noble.
The connection began through an introduction by Dr. Sarah Wareham, associate professor in the School of Education. Wareham, a former special education teacher and current Noble board member, recognized the potential for partnership when Noble Art opened its new location in Speedway in October 2025. For Itczak, Noble Art offers both a wonderful way for UIndy to serve the community and a high-quality practicum and internship site where students can gain meaningful experience.
“Many adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities have experienced abuse, neglect and other trauma, and they often don’t have the words to express what they are feeling or what they need,” said Itczak. “Art therapy gives them another language. It creates a safe way to communicate and process experiences without having to rely only on words. That can be incredibly powerful and impactful—not only for the client but also for the student learning how to support the whole person.”
“This community partnership is so powerful because it truly fills a need for both organizations,” said Wareham. “UIndy students get an immersive experience working alongside adults with disabilities and Noble gains a steady connection to highly trained and capable students who can support and expand the creative work that is already happening. At its heart, this partnership is about recognizing the dignity and the potential of every person involved.”
The partnership comes at an important moment for Noble, a not-for-profit organization that has served children and adults with disabilities for more than 70 years. Last year it served more than 4,400 people through programs focused on community integration, employment, therapy and respite to help individuals live more independently and achieve their dreams.
Noble Art, located at 5011 W. 16th St. in Speedway, has an art studio, retail space for artists to sell their work, day service space and a teaching kitchen in addition to creative and community areas. The space is designed to help adults with disabilities to create, connect with the community and share their creative abilities in ways that are visible and valued.
“Noble Art reflects our commitment to create high-quality services that help people connect with the community and live full and meaningful lives,” said Wade Wingler, Noble president and CEO. “This space gives our clients the opportunity to express their creativity and themselves in new and powerful ways. Our partnership with the University of Indianapolis strengthens that vision by bringing in students who care about our people and want to help them grow.”
For Emmett, Noble Art has been the ideal place to bring together her UIndy education and her own passion for creativity.
“I truly believe that art is for everyone,” Emmett said. “At Noble Art, I love that I can make that a reality for the people we serve every single day. Creating art is not about perfection or doing things the ‘right’ way. There is no right way. It’s about finding your creative voice and finding the way you personally want to express yourself. At Noble Art, we make art accessible so that everyone can find their creative path, try something new and feel proud of what they’ve made.”
While Van Veld will finish up her internship in July and is set to graduate in August, the partnership means that another art therapy student will be stepping into her smock and continuing to serve in a way that is making a difference. The experience only deepened her desire to work with people with disabilities and reinforced to her why she chose art therapy in the first place.
“I really hope that in the future more Greyhounds can follow my footsteps, and we can continue to provide great services for folks with disabilities in Indiana,” said Van Veld. “My internship at Noble has been really helpful for me to step into my own and really feel confident about being a future mental health counselor and art therapist.”
More information about UIndy’s Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling: Art Therapy Track as well as Pre-Art Therapy program can be found on each program’s webpage. To learn more about Noble, visit the organization’s webpage.
