2025 Kalvin Snapp Drawing Dreams: Art Therapy and Dream Engineering

Unlock the mysteries of your dreams with Kalvin Snapp, an innovative art therapy graduate student at the Herron School of Art + Design, part of Indiana University Indianapolis. In his fascinating thesis video, "Drawing Dreams: Art Therapy and Dream Engineering," Kalvin explores how creating art before sleep can shape dream content, offering a groundbreaking approach to improving mental health through dream engineering.

Kalvin’s research dives into the significance of dreams, which occupy roughly 20% of our lives, and their impact on well-being. Drawing on theories from Freud, Jung, and neuroscience, he investigates whether drawing specific, emotionally neutral objects before bed influences dream narratives. Through a six-week self-study, Kalvin completed nightly 30-minute sketches and recorded his dreams, discovering that 16 out of 18 drawings appeared in his dreams, often multiple times. His findings support both the "day residue" and "dream lag" theories, showing that pre-sleep art can reliably influence dream content, with implications for therapeutic techniques like image rehearsal therapy, which reduces nightmares and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

Featuring the charming Potato the Pomeranian, this video highlights Kalvin’s creative methodology and the potential of art therapy to transform how we engage with our dreams. Produced as part of his graduate work at Herron (https://herron.indianapolis.iu.edu), Kalvin’s research paves the way for using art to enhance mental health and well-being. Learn more about Herron’s Art Therapy program at https://herron.indianapolis.iu.edu/academics/gdegrees/art-therapy/index.html and join the conversation about dream engineering. Like, share, and subscribe to support this innovative research and inspire new ways to harness the power of dreams!