This study examines the effect of cooperative activity centered group art therapy on maladjusted
elementary school students' self-expression, peer relationship and adaptation to school. The subjects of this
study consist of 24 students in fifth grade from “A” elementary school in M-gu, Seoul. Among them, 12
students were in the experimental group and the other 12 were in the control group. Ten weekly
cooperative activity-centered group art therapy sessions lasting 50 minutes were completed by the
experimental group. The School-Related Coping Scale(Kim, Y., 2000), the Self-Expression test(Kim, E., 2008),
the Peer Relationship Test(Han, 1996) and Kinetic School Drawing(KSD) were implemented and effectiveness
was reviewed by comparing group post-tests with pre-tests. Firstly, the experimental group showed
statistically more improvement in the contextual self- expression than the control group. Secondly, the
experimental group, showed more statistically significant improvements in peer relationship than the
control group. Lastly, the experimental group showed statistically significant improvements in the
adaptation to school when compared to the control group. These results demonstrate that the program has
various positive effects on elementary school maladjusted students’ self-expression, peer relationship and
adaptation to school.