The recreational therapy profession has been supported by national professional organizations since the 1940s and 1950s, most recently with the formation of the American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA) in 1984. Building on this legacy, the National Academy of Recreational Therapists (NART) was established in 2011 as an honor society recognizing the profession’s most accomplished practitioners and educators.

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Efforts to create NART began in 2009, when David Austin and Ray West developed the original vision, operational framework, and proposed bylaws. A steering committee soon followed, charged with refining the bylaws and selecting NART’s Founding Fellows. From the outset, the Academy’s central purpose has been to advance recreational therapy through recognition, education, research, scholarship, advocacy, and informed guidance to decision-makers. Since its inception, NART has supported the future of the profession by establishing initiatives such as the Future Scholars Fund, which assists outstanding graduate students pursuing terminal degrees, and the Marcia Carter Scholarly Manuscript Award, recognizing exemplary annual publications in the Therapeutic Recreation Journal.

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Guided by its vision, NART has continued to advance the recreational therapy profession, and as of 2025, the Academy has elected 104 Fellows. An invited scholarly paper documents these first 10 years while also identifying original goals that continue to guide NART’s ongoing growth and impact.