As the recipient of the AAMR (now known as the American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities) Award for Social Inclusion: Research and Innovation, the Centre for the Arts in Human Development is a leading organization in research on the intersection of the arts and disability. It is a designated research unit within the Faculty of Fine Arts at Concordia University. Much of the research at the Centre focuses on measuring the effectiveness of the Centre's program in enhancing participants quality of life. Changes is individuals' knowledge of personal rights, ability to make choices and improvements in self-esteem and self-image are assessed.

Research has been a core component of our program since its inception. Faculty and graduate students from Concordia's Department of Education and the Department of Creative Arts Therapies have conducted research into the efficacy of the creative arts therapies offered to participants. We have also designed and researched assessment tools to measure the initial status of participants and their progress over time. A three-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) was awarded to the Centre to develop assessments in the creative arts therapies. The results from this research have been presented internationally, and spurred the creation of a textbook, Assessment in the Creative Arts Therapies, published in 2009.