By Yunkyung Lee
The morning I arrived in Portland, I walked through a quiet street lined with small galleries and local shops on my way to the conference center. The crisp autumn air carried both calm and anticipation. My main purpose for this trip was to present my graduate research at the 56th Annual Conference of the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) in 2025—my first presentation beyond school. The journey was made possible through the generous support of the IL LEND Travel Scholarship, which gave me the confidence to step forward and share my work with a broader professional community.
The conference, held from October 8–11, gathered art therapists, educators, and researchers from around the world under the theme Ascending to New Heights. It was organized into two main tracks, Clinical Approaches and Contemporary Issues/Current Trends, with over 150 sessions covering a wide range of topics and providing a platform for professionals to share the latest research and practice in art therapy.
My session, titled “Listening Through Art: Understanding the Inner Language of Individuals on the Autism Spectrum,” reflected both my personal journey as a mother and my professional growth as an emerging art therapist. Grounded in arts-based and autoethnographic research, my presentation explored how art can serve as a communicative bridge for those with language and cognitive differences, and how therapists can advocate for voices that are often unheard.
The session began with Dear the Name of the Mother, a toy theater performance illustrating my process of accepting my child’s diagnosis and embracing neurodiversity through art. It was followed by three art making directives that demonstrated how creative processes can expand connection and expression beyond words. The presentation concluded with The Story of the 52Hz Whale and the Boy, a shadow puppetry performance symbolizing unheard voices and the universal longing to be understood. Standing before more than a hundred attendees, I felt a profound resonance—realizing that my research, at its core, was also about my own desire to be seen and heard as an immigrant, a mother, an artist, and an art therapist.
The IL LEND program has continually reminded me that true leadership begins with listening—across disciplines, perspectives, and ways of communication. Through LEND, I have learned that empathy itself can be a form of leadership, and that connection often emerges when we honor differences rather than erase them. Presenting Listening Through Art at AATA allowed me to advocate for neurodiverse communities and bring attention to voices that are often unheard. In many ways, this presentation became an extension of my LEND journey—a practice of listening beyond words, expressing unheard perspectives through art, and cultivating leadership grounded in empathy and inclusion.
This presentation was not just an academic milestone but also a personal declaration—a moment of reclaiming my voice and stepping forward as a professional art therapist. I hope that the seeds planted in Portland continue to grow and inspire others to listen more deeply, connect more openly, and recognize every voice as part of a shared human story.
I am deeply grateful to the IL LEND program and mentors who have guided and supported me throughout this journey. If you’d like to explore the performances and creative processes from my presentation, they are available on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2U7B7JkeFk&t=1s
