BackgroundThe study was conducted in order to determine the effect of mandala therapy applied to mothers who have children with special needs on the mothers' comfort and resilience levels. MethodsThe study was conducted as a randomized controlled study at a special education school in Turkey. The study sample consisted of 51 mothers (24 mothers in the experimental group and 27 mothers in the control group) who had children with special needs. A 16-h mandala therapy was applied to the mothers in the experimental group. Identifying Information Form, General Comfort Questionnaire and Adult Resilience Scale were used as data collection tools. ResultsAccording to the regression analysis performed in order to explain the difference between the first and third measurements of General Comfort Questionnaire, mandala art therapy was found to be effective, and the model established was determined to be statistically significant. It was also determined that the change that occurred between the third and first measurements performed in order to identify the change in the general comfort levels of the individuals was higher in the experimental group in comparison to the control group (P < 0.05). It was seen that the mothers' mean scores obtained from the Adult Resilience Scale total scale and its subscales significantly increased in the second and third measurements (P < 0.05) but that the increase in the mean scores of the control group was not significant (P > 0.05). ConclusionsMandala Art Therapy is a method that improves the comfort levels and resilience of mothers who have children with special needs. It might be beneficial for mothers to perform these applications at special education schools in collaboration with nurses.