The term Outsider Art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for Art Brut (which literally translates as "Raw Art" or "Rough Art"), a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane asylum inmates. Outside Art has also been described as works by those outside of mainstream society. In the United States, outsider art broadly includes folk art and ethnic art as well as works by incarcerated individuals, the mentally ill and others neither trained in art. In Europe, outsider art is more narrowly interpreted as art by the mentally disturbed. The term naive was once applied to this work, but is no longer considered current.
Works that include ethnic and folk art, completed by those outside mainstream society such as the mentally ill, convicts or other culturally isolated individuals. (17)