The Art of Becoming: Person-Centred Therapy and Creativity

In person-centred therapy (PCT), there’s a quiet but radical belief: that every person has an innate tendency to grow, heal, and become more fully themselves. Carl Rogers, the founder of this approach, called it the actualising tendency—a natural impulse toward development, expression, and integration.

But what does that have to do with art?

Whether you’re painting, journalling, sculpting, or playing music, the act of creating is more than just a pastime. It’s a powerful expression of your actualising tendency—your self in motion, becoming.

The Actualising Tendency: Growth from the Inside Out

Carl Rogers defined the actualising tendency as:

“the inherent tendency of the organism to develop all its capacities in ways which serve to maintain or enhance the organism.”
(Client-Centered Therapy, 1951)

In person-centred therapy, the therapist doesn’t direct, analyse, or “fix” the client. Instead, they offer the conditions in which growth happens naturally: unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence. These are the same conditions that nourish creativity.

In other words, when people feel safe, seen, and accepted, they start to create—images, sounds, words, meaning.

Visual Art: Beyond Words

In person-centred expressive arts practice, visual art becomes a form of symbolisation—expressing internal experience through image. This might mean painting a feeling, drawing a body state, or creating abstract shapes to reflect confusion or pain.

Importantly, there is no pressure to interpret the image. The power lies in the making, not the meaning.

Therapist and author Shaun McNiff (2004) wrote that “art heals” because it allows people to externalise inner experience and witness it safely, a view deeply compatible with Rogers’ non-directive approach.

Creative Writing: Language from the Inside

Writing—especially poetry and journalling—offers another route to authenticity.

Peter Wilkins (2010) describes how writing can become a form of “creative congruence”—where inner experience finds language that feels right. Writing helps us:

Hear ourselves more clearly
Let different “voices” speak
Re-author our personal narratives

When clients write in therapy—or outside it—it’s often not about grammar or elegance, but about truth. One sentence of honest writing can do the work of a dozen therapy sessions.

Music: Feeling Before Form

Music may be the most direct route to emotion. A client doesn’t need to explain why they’re playing a sad melody or drumming out a storm. It’s felt.

Improvised music-making fits beautifully with the person-centred ethos:

It’s spontaneous
It follows the client’s lead
It honours process over product

Music therapists working from a person-centred base (like those described by Bruscia and others) often focus on relational presence—attuning to the client as they make sound, much like the therapist attunes to words in talk therapy.

Person-Centred Conditions and Creative Safety

So what makes this kind of creativity possible? The same things that make therapy healing:

Empathy: The therapist tunes in to the client’s emotional world.
Congruence: The therapist is real, not performing or analysing.
Unconditional positive regard: The client is valued, no matter what they create or express.

This creates a space where people can take creative risks, explore new parts of themselves, and even reimagine who they are.

Research Connections

Several researchers have expanded on Rogers’ ideas to show how creativity supports healing:

Barrett-Lennard (1998) confirmed that when clients feel deeply accepted, they naturally begin symbolising experience—including through creative forms.
Moon (2009) and McNiff (2004) described how the person-centred ethos aligns with expressive arts therapy—especially in privileging process, not interpretation.
Huss et al. (2012) showed how art-making in a non-directive, person-centred environment supports integration for people with dementia.

Even outside formal therapy, the actualising tendency expresses itself in creative acts. Whether you’re making art, playing music, or scribbling in a notebook, you’re in dialogue with yourself. You’re becoming.

Neurodivergence and Non-Verbal Processing

For many neurodivergent people, creativity is not just helpful—it’s essential. When verbal processing is difficult or exhausting, making art can offer:

A non-verbal language
A way to regulate the nervous system
A form of self-advocacy and self-definition

Moreover, neurodivergent people frequently have the intense kind of sensory experiences which lends itself to making art. Many, many artists are neurodivergent.

Person-centred creativity doesn’t assume what healing should look like. It respects difference. And it lets each person move toward their own kind of wholeness.