Arts-Based Communities Fostering Social Justice of Persons With Intellectual Disabilities : A Qualitative Interpretive Synthesis Scoping Review of Design Elements, Approaches, and Artistic Expressions

This scoping review explores the design elements, approaches, and artistic expressions of arts-based communities (ABCs) with the potential to foster social justice of individuals with intellectual disabilities. Using a qualitative, interpretive synthesis methodology, the review includes 27 peer-reviewed studies identified through a prior systematic search aligned with PRISMA guidelines and evaluated for methodological quality. Despite significant differences, ABCs share key features: cocreative collaboration, audience engagement, person-centered and improvisational methods, and expressive storytelling rooted in lived experience. These communities function not as fixed models but as relational, transformative spaces that promote narrative agency and challenge ableist norms. The findings contribute to a growing body of knowledge informing a social justice-oriented creative arts therapies praxis. It highlights how ABCs can expand the role of art therapists and other creative arts therapists beyond clinical settings, emphasizing community-based practices grounded in the social model of disability. However, challenges remain. More attention is needed to understand how individuals with intellectual disabilities experience and shape these communities and how they understand their meaning and impact in the context of social justice. Future research should center on these voices, acknowledging the diversity of lived experiences across different societal and cultural contexts.