[3] As an assessment tool, the DDS significantly differs from traditional methods of art-based interpretations that have dominated in previous decades (Cohen, Hammer, & Singer, 1988).
The development of the DDS has purposefully shifted away from interpretive, subjective approaches in hopes of creating a more empirically-based assessment and research tool.
[4] Cohen is the Director of the DDS Project, an international network of mental health professionals who use the Diagnostic Drawing Series clinically and in research.
[10] As a teenaged artist, Cohen was mentored by Charles "Li" Hidley,[11] an expressionist painter who trained in New York and Mexico City.
Works from his collection, including those by Red Grooms, Justin McCarthy, Harold Geesaman, Caroline Goe, and Thornton Dial have been published in art catalogues and books.