Edith Kramer (1916–2014) was an Austrian social realist painter, a follower of psychoanalytic theory and an art therapy pioneer.

Dicker was graduate of the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany and was an artist and art teacher of note.

Kramer studied drawing, sculpture and painting, and was influenced by the method for teaching art developed by Bauhaus artist Johannes Itten.

During World War II Kramer worked as a machinist at a tool and die shop in the Soho district of New York City.

Dr. Bernard gave Kramer the title, "Art Therapist," noting that few teachers were willing to work with such challenging students.

[4] Raised in a family which was interested in psychoanalytic theory, Kramer herself became a follower of Sigmund Freud.

Kramer's life work was spent with children and adolescents that were often unable to explain their feelings through the use of words.

In 1958 Kramer published Art Therapy in a Children's Community,[5] based on her time working with the students at the Wiltwyck School.

In 1976 Kramer, with the help of Dr. Laurie Wilson, founded the graduate program in Art Therapy at New York University.

She helped develop one of the country's earliest art therapy graduate degree programs at New York University.

[3] She continued to work in NYU's Graduate Art Therapy Program from 1973 to 2005 as an adjunct professor and was an assistant professor in the Graduate Art Therapy Program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.[7][non-primary source needed] The American Art Therapy Association gave her the award of "Honorary Life Member,” a mark of highest esteem.