Mütter Museum workshop

The Mütter Museum is turning its new art-therapy exhibition into a hands-on public event with a workshop scheduled for May 19 in Philadelphia. (muttermuseum.org) The museum’s event listing says the program is called “Mütter Meet & Geek: Art Therapy in Museums & Retablo-Making Workshop.” It is set for Tuesday, May 19, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., with tickets priced at $20. (muttermuseum.org) The workshop is tied to “Creative Processing: Art in Therapy,” a special exhibition in the Thomson Gallery that opened March 21. The show says it examines the therapeutic use of creative arts “within and beyond the clinical setting.” (muttermuseum.org) The exhibition frames art therapy as both history and practice. Its description says visitors will see the history of art as therapy, techniques and media used in healing, and work made by community partners connecting with their emotional and physical selves. (muttermuseum.org) That is a notable fit for the Mütter, which is best known as a medical history museum with specimens, pathology displays, and historical teaching collections. The museum says its mission is to help the public understand the human body and the history of diagnosing and treating disease. (muttermuseum.org) The parent institution, the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, says it has worked to advance health since 1787 and now operates as a public-facing organization with the museum, library, and education programs. The workshop places mental health and creative practice inside that broader medical-history setting. (collegeofphysicians.org) The show’s own wall text places art therapy’s formal development in the 1940s, when therapists began using art-making as a structured practice. It also says there are more than 8,000 certified art therapists credentialed through the Art Therapy Credentials Board. (muttermuseum.org) National art-therapy groups describe the field as a regulated mental health profession, and the credentialing board says it maintains credentials including Registered Art Therapist and Board Certified Registered Art Therapist. That gives the museum’s exhibition a professional frame beyond general arts programming. (arttherapy.org; atcb.org) The Mütter has also been expanding participatory programming, including recent workshops that asked visitors to use collections for creative historical interpretation. A museum event in April invited attendees to bring a laptop, tablet, or notebook for a hands-on session built around wax models and medical instruments. (muttermuseum.org) Visitors who want to see the exhibition before the May workshop can do so with regular museum admission. The museum says “Creative Processing: Art in Therapy” is included with a standard ticket and that the Mütter is open Wednesday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (muttermuseum.org; muttermuseum.org)