The purpose of this research is to investigate whether group art play therapy has an effect on the level of self-reliance displayed by female adolescents currently in institutional care. The participants in the study are 12 institutionalized adolescents residing in Institution located in S city. Six adolescents were as assigned to be the experimental group, and the other six were designated as the control group. The group art play therapy program had a total of ten sessions, on session a week for 80 minutes. Self-reliance volitional questionnaires were distributed to all participants to analyze any changes that occurred as a result of the program. The Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, a non-parametric test, was carried out using the SPSS 21.0 program. The results are as follows. Firstly, the group art play therapy was found to have a significant effect on the self-reliance of female adolescents in institutional care. Among the subordinate province, asignificant difference in ‘confidence’ and, ‘self-control’ was shown. Secondly, the various expressions of female adolescents in institutional care were connected with the subordinate factors of self-reliance, and the contents of sessions were analyzed at each stage. As a result, the expression of self-reliance has increased. This study provides convincing evidence supporting the positive effects of group art play therapy on the self-reliance of female adolescents in institutional care.