The Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) is a standard but culturally-biased performance-based technique used to assess the personality characteristics of people across different racial and ethnic backgrounds (Thompson, 1949). Research in the field of multicultural psychology has demonstrated the need for culture-specific assessments and ethnic matching to improve treatment effectiveness with clients of color (Hall, 2001; Sue, 1998). The Contemporized Themes Concerning Blacks Test (C-TCB) is a culture-specific performance-based assessment technique designed with Africentric stimulus characters, content, and themes to enhance the cultural validity of personality traits projected by African Americans. The use of culture-specific performance-based assessment techniques is predicted to improve clients' perceptions of their therapist and treatment. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the effect of traditional and culture-specific performance-based techniques on participants' perceptions of the therapeutic alliance and their clinicians' cultural competence across ethnically matched and mismatched dyads. Forty African American adult participants were assigned to one of four conditions that differed by performance-based assessment technique (TAT or C-TCB) and clinician race (European American or African American). No significant differences were found in participants' (a) ratings of the anticipated therapeutic alliance, (b) ratings of clinicians' cultural competence, or (c) verbal productivity across the four conditions. Results suggests that the use of culture-specific performance-based techniques and ethnic matching may have no effect on therapeutic outcomes for African Americans.