This study uses the written work descriptions of students from the School of Education at HC College who engaged in Zhuang brocade-themed creative projects as its primary material, aiming to explore the positive effects of such creative practice on students' emotional experiences, aesthetic expression, and cultural identity. The research draws on two PDF portfolios of student works, totaling 114 pages, of which 96 contain extractable textual information. The materials primarily consist of students' hand-drawn Zhuang brocade or traditional motif works, accompanied by explanatory texts such as "work interpretation," "design statement," "psychological feelings," and "personal reflections." Thematic analysis was employed to conduct open coding and thematic synthesis of students' accounts of the creative process, psychological experiences, cultural understanding, and meaning-making of their works. Findings reveal three categories of positive effects: first, ethno-cultural aesthetic characteristics; second, creative psychological and emotional experiences; and third, cultural heritage and identity formation. The study argues that the therapeutic experience derived from Zhuang brocade-themed creation is not a form of general drawing relaxation detached from cultural content, but rather a culturally embedded healing process co-generated by the orderly beauty of ethnic patterns, vibrant color schemes, auspicious symbolism, and the intangible cultural heritage narrative. This practice may serve as a viable pathway for integrating university aesthetic education, intangible cultural heritage education, and student mental health education.
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