There is something powerful about creating containers and using containers to hold physical objects as well as feelings in art therapy. The metaphorical container can contain positive feelings of hope, excitement, and negative feelings of being overwhelmed with sadness, loss, or anxiety. However, anxiety doesn't always come from negative things; some anxiety comes with the anticipation of the unknown. Even dreams that we don't know are true need to be contained to remain enjoyable and not out of control. Artist Joseph Cornell used glass boxes to contain his own stories and dreams. Even those of famous people he admired, he made detailed, object-filled boxes to represent his ideas or feelings about them (PEM 2014). He created his box art by collecting used objects as well as using new and sometimes cut-out images that he transformed into a collage inside a box. Each box he made told a story, expressed a dream or an interest (PEM 2014). Cornell was a highly innovative artist who was one of the first to create collage and surrealist works in the United States. His social manner was said to be shy and strangely reserved. He grew up and lived in New York, never leaving the city, remaining alone in the state his entire life. For Cornell, making art was an escape from a world that had abandoned him. He was only free to dream, and he dreamed. Although he rarely traveled beyond New York, he constructed miniature worlds inspired by distant places and times, natural sciences, astronomy, art, cinema and opera . (Genocchio. 2014) Cornell used his box making to create a world for himself that contained but crazy...... middle of paper ...... the client to store his 3D artwork; this box can be decorated to make it a work of art. Open boxes, closed boxes, boxes with objects placed inside to be stored safely come to play in the Art Therapy room with the client and the therapist. Art therapists are responsible for maintaining frameworks that allow the client to create and explore safely (Gilroy & Dalley, 1989). How the customer chooses to use the box to communicate can be seen in a variety of ways, but what is true about the box is that it is a necessary symbol for many people to help them in their life process. As art therapists we must be aware of this powerful symbol for Western man and be sensitive to what it may contain. As we witness the client and their artistic work in the way they make meaning of their art, we create space for them to give voice to their art (Huckvale & Learmonth 2009).