This Is Your Brain on Art—and the Science May Surprise You

For most of history, human beings have understood that art can make us feel something.

Music can change our mood. Movement can release emotions held inside the body. Painting can give shape to an experience we cannot explain in words.

What we could not always explain was why.

That is beginning to change. Researchers are studying what happens in the brain and body when people create or experience art—and their findings are changing how healthcare providers, educators, community organizations, and funders think about creativity and well-being.

The Old Story We Were Told

We were told that art was subjective and healing was clinical.

Medicine belonged in the hospital. Art belonged in the studio or museum.

For decades, the health-supporting potential of creative expression was often treated as anecdotal—meaningful to the individual, perhaps, but too “soft” to be taken seriously in healthcare planning, public policy, or funding decisions.

That story is changing.

Researchers can now use brain imaging, biological markers, psychological assessments, and controlled studies to investigate how creative experiences may affect stress, mood, memory, emotional regulation, social connection, and quality of life.

The science is still developing, but the evidence is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

Welcome to the Emerging Field of Neuroarts

There is a growing interdisciplinary field called neuroarts.

The NeuroArts Blueprint Initiative defines neuroarts as the study of how the arts and aesthetic experiences measurably change the brain, body, and behavior—and how that knowledge can be translated into practices that advance health and well-being.

This field includes visual art, music, dance, storytelling, theater, design, architecture, and other creative and aesthetic experiences.

Researchers are exploring how these experiences interact with systems involved in emotion, memory, attention, identity, movement, reward, and human connection.

What Is the Research Showing?

Art may influence important brain networks.

A 2026 review published in Frontiers in Psychology examined research into the possible neurological, psychological, and cultural mechanisms involved in art therapy.

The review found evidence suggesting that art therapy may affect brain networks associated with self-reflection, attention, emotion, and executive function. The authors also emphasized the need for more rigorous controlled studies to establish exactly how these changes occur.

The important point is not that every art activity automatically “rewires” the brain. It is that scientists can increasingly observe and study the relationship between creative engagement and brain function.

Art therapy may help reduce depressive symptoms.

A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis examined 19 studies involving 997 participants. Researchers found that art therapy was associated with improved depressive symptoms and concluded that it may be valuable as a complementary treatment.

The word complementary is important. Art therapy can support conventional care, but it should not be presented as a replacement for necessary medical treatment, psychotherapy, or medication.

Another large review published in 2025 found that group arts activities—including visual art, music, and dance—were associated with reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety among older adults.

That finding is especially important for communities concerned about loneliness, isolation, and healthy aging.

Creative arts therapies may support trauma recovery.

Research also suggests that creative arts therapies may help reduce symptoms of post-traumatic stress.

A 2025 meta-analysis found meaningful reductions in PTSD symptoms among participants in creative arts-based interventions. However, the studies varied considerably in their methods and results. Researchers are still working to determine which approaches are most effective, for whom, and under what circumstances.

The findings are promising, but they should be communicated with care.

Creating art may help lower stress.

In a small Drexel University study, 39 healthy adults participated in 45 minutes of art-making. Approximately 75% experienced a reduction in cortisol, a hormone associated with the body’s stress response.

Previous artistic experience did not appear to determine who benefited. Participants did not need to consider themselves artists to take part.

This does not prove that 45 minutes of art will reduce stress for everyone. It does offer encouraging evidence that the process of creating—without pressure to perform—may support relaxation and emotional well-being.

A Field Coming Into Its Own

The neuroarts movement is gaining national and international attention.

The Neuroarts Academic Network launched in September 2025 to help strengthen research and train future leaders in the field.

Wake Forest University has established a Neuroarts Lab connecting scientific research with community wellness. Its work includes a $3 million NIH-funded study examining dance and brain health in older adults.

The inaugural Neuroarts Global Summit is scheduled for December 2–3, 2026, in Washington, D.C., bringing together researchers, artists, practitioners, healthcare leaders, and policymakers.

The book Your Brain on Art, written by Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross, has also helped introduce the public to this growing body of research. Magsamen leads the International Arts + Mind Lab at Johns Hopkins University.

The science is advancing. Institutions are organizing. New partnerships are developing.

Long Island does not have to wait for this movement to reach us. We can help build it here.

For Healing Art Together, This Is Personal

At Healing Art Together, the connection between art and well-being is not simply an interesting area of research. It is part of our story.

Our co-founder and artist, Janine McCray-Booker, turned to painting while navigating her daughter Shannan’s illness and the profound grief that followed her passing.

Through color and creative expression, Janine found a way to communicate emotions that words could not hold. Her experience became part of the foundation for Healing Art Together and our belief that creativity can help people process difficult experiences, reconnect with themselves, and feel less alone.

We have seen how people can enter a creative space feeling guarded, isolated, or overwhelmed—and gradually begin to connect, express themselves, and feel seen.

We do not claim that every painting changes every person’s brain in the same way. Nor do we present our nonclinical community programs as substitutes for medical care, professional art therapy, or mental-health treatment.

What we do believe—and what a growing body of research supports—is that creative engagement can contribute to emotional expression, social connection, confidence, purpose, and well-being.

That is not insignificant work.

It is essential community work.

You Do Not Have to Be an Artist

One of the most hopeful messages emerging from this research is that artistic skill is not the point.

You do not have to paint a masterpiece, perform on a stage, or produce something worthy of an exhibition.

You only have to be willing to participate.

An older adult picking up a paintbrush for the first time may discover confidence and connection. A caregiver moving to music may find a moment of release. A young person creating an image after a loss may find a way to express something that feels impossible to say aloud.

Art gives us another language—and sometimes that language reaches places ordinary conversation cannot.

Art Is Not an Extra

Art will never replace physicians, therapists, medication, or appropriate clinical care.

But it should no longer be dismissed as an optional luxury that receives attention only after all the “real” needs have been met.

Creativity is part of how human beings process experience, build relationships, preserve identity, make meaning, and move through difficult moments.

The science is helping us understand why.

Healing Art Together exists to make meaningful creative experiences more accessible to people across Long Island—especially those navigating grief, illness, trauma, isolation, and major life transitions.

You do not have to be an artist. You only have to begin.

To learn more about Healing Art Together and our developing programs, visit healingarttogether.org.