A five-year-old girl with cancer is terrified of her chemotherapy injections, but remains calm when she is sung to during the treatments.

A professional dancer is disenchanted when a neck injury prematurely ends his career, but finds new hope by teaching young people how to dance.

These are just two success stories made possible by a relatively new form of medical treatment known as art therapy. Through the use of music, dance, creative writing and painting, caregivers are discovering there is more to the healing process than just the treatment of the body.

We are beginning to understand that a lot of our thoughts and feelings derive from the subconscious,Œ says Roberta Victor, director of the art therapy program at Grandview College in Des Moines. These feelings have the latent capacity to project to a form, which is what art therapy is all about.Œ

Victor, who spoke at a panel discussion in the Brunnier Museum on the benefits of art therapy on Sunday, says the technique is not so much based on medical procedures as it is on the use of psychology and all forms of art in conjunction with the healing process.

Laura Berkson agrees.

During her time as artist-in-residence for Hasbro Children¡s Hospital in Providence, R.I., she began an art therapy program for children with serious and terminal diseases that gave the kids the opportunity to write and record songs that dealt with their own illnesses.

During the first year of the program, I got the idea to make a little tape of all of the kids¡ songs,Œ Berkson says. In no time at all, we had forty-some musicians wanting to help with the project, and it blossomed into a fully produced CD project.Œ

Berkson says the children also helped her through her own hardships, and taught her the healing power of art therapy.

I had very severe carpal tunnel syndrome, and had to have surgery,Œ Berkson says. As a professional musician who uses her hands to make a living, I was freaking out. But the children taught me a lot. Their creativity was a life force for me, and that¡s what really kept me positive through all of the hard times.Œ

Another art therapy discussion will be held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Brunnier Gallery. Mary Ann Rolling, Minnesota-licensed art therapist, will discuss the benefits of art therapy and her experiences with patients.