The History of the National Academy of Recreational Therapists: 2011–2021

The profession of recreational therapy first established professional membership organizations in the 1940s and 1950s. The most recent national professional membership organization was developed in 1984, when the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) was formed. The National Academy of Recreational Therapists (NART) was established in 2011 as an honor society to recognize the most accomplished practitioners and educators in recreational therapy and to provide a clearinghouse for the exchange of ideas that would ultimately lead to the advancement of the recreational therapy profession. Efforts to establish NART began in 2009 when David Austin and Ray West drafted a conceptualization of the academy and its operations, as well as proposed a set of by-laws. A steering committee was subsequently established to review and approve by-laws for NART and to establish the Founding Fellows of NART. The central purpose of the Academy was the advancement of recreational therapy by recognition, education, research, scholarly activity, advocacy, and the provision of advice to decision makers. Since its inception NART has established and funded a Future Scholars Fund to support outstanding graduate students considering pursuing a terminal degree, as well as the Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript Award for the best annual publication in the Therapeutic Recreation Journal. Over its first 10 years, NART made revisions to its bylaws to refine criteria and categories for Fellows, and by 2021 there were 77 elected Fellows. The invited paper summarizes the first 10 years and considers a number of original goals that remain to be realized to support and advance this honor society.