The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences and meanings of art therapy using mandala in relieving the parenting stress of the mother of a student preparing college admission exam. The participant of this study was a 48-year-old working woman who had a child taking college admission exam. Data was collected from recording files and in-depth interviews of the entire sessions, transcribed texts, artwork images of sessions, and clinical diaries of the therapist. For data analysis, the study adopted the repetitive comparative analysis method of qualitative research. The study executed from October 2022 to February 2023, excluding the preparation stage, 15 sessions for 90 minutes once a week. The top topics were 'the beginning of everything,' 'pure and clear me in paradise,' 'another me and a hard struggle,' and 'finding me who shines the brightest.' The research results were as follows. First, in the process of accepting the test score of her child she was able to relieve her inner conflicts and stress through mandala art activity. Second, through the process of understanding and acceptance by exploring her problems and expressing them in a symbolic meaning, the participant could obtain a positive effect on relieving stress. Based on these findings, the significance and limitations of this study were discussed.