Smart's uncle, Tom Smart, and author Lee Benson wrote a book about the search for Smart, In Plain Sight: The Startling Truth Behind the Elizabeth Smart Investigation. Her father wrote another book about Smart's kidnapping, called Bringing Elizabeth Home. A television movie, The Elizabeth Smart Story, was made in 2003, based on the book by Smart's father.
On March 8, 2006, Smart spoke before the United States Congress to support sexual predator legislation and the Amber alert system. On July 26, 2006, she spoke at an event held following the signing of the Adam Walsh Act. Smart was one of five recovered young adults who contributed entries to the 2008 book You're Not Alone, which was published by the U.S. Department of Justice. She appeared at a May 2008 event promoting the book. In 2009, Smart commented on the kidnapping of Jaycee Lee Dugard. She shared that, in her own experience of recovering from trauma, she had found dwelling on the past to be unproductive.
In October 2009, Smart spoke at the 2009 Women's Conference in California (hosted by Maria Shriver) on the topic of overcoming obstacles in life. In 2011, Smart founded the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which aims to bring hope and end the victimization and exploitation of sexual assault through prevention, recovery, and advocacy. In March 2011, Smart was one of four women awarded the Diane von Furstenberg Award. On July 7, 2011, ABC News announced that she would work as a commentator for them, mainly focusing on missing persons.
In July 2012, Theta Phi Alpha honored Smart with the Siena Medal award. The medal, named after their patroness St. Catherine of Siena, is the highest honor the organization bestows upon a non-member.
On May 1, 2013, in a speech at a human trafficking conference at Johns Hopkins University, Smart discussed the need to emphasize individual self-worth in fighting human trafficking and the importance of dispelling cultural myths surrounding girls' loss of value upon sexual contact. She discussed the unintended psychological harms associated with abstinence-only sexual education programs such as those stressed in her Mormon faith. She said such programs teach that a sexually active girl is akin to a used piece of chewing gum and commented: "I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away.' And that's how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth”. Smart went on to recommend children be taught about having self-worth, and avoid viewing themselves as victims.
Smart described suicidal thoughts after the first of many rapes by her captor, saying "I felt like I wasn't even human anymore."
In October 2013, My Story, a memoir of Smart's experience co-written with Chris Stewart, was published by St. Martin's Press. The book details both Smart's kidnapping and the formation of the Elizabeth Smart Foundation, which works to promote awareness about abductions. Smart has played the harp on national television in the United States.
In February 2014, Smart testified before the Utah State House of Representatives in favor of HB 286. The bill would create an optional curriculum for use in Utah schools to provide training on child sexual abuse prevention. In early 2015, Faith Counts featured Smart in a video in which she explains how her religion sustained her through her ordeal and helped her heal. As of September 2016, Smart is a correspondent for the true-crime show Crime Watch Daily. Various state politicians have proposed bills that would require all computers to have a pornography filter, branding it the "Elizabeth Smart Law." However, in March 2018, her spokesman denied her relationship to the proposal. Her lawyer sent a cease and desist letter to the politicians in which they were ordered not to use her name.
On June 5, 2017, on the 15th anniversary of her abduction, Lifetime aired the made-for-TV film titled I Am Elizabeth Smart, narrated and produced by Smart, which tells the story of her kidnapping from her perspective. The film starred Alana Boden as Elizabeth Smart, Skeet Ulrich as Brian David Mitchell, Deirdre Lovejoy as Wanda Ileen Barzee, George Newbern as Ed Smart, and Anne Openshaw as Lois Smart. She has subsequently produced other Lifetime features, including Stolen By Their Father (about Lizbeth Meredith's plans to reclaim her daughters after being kept in Greece by Meredith's ex-husband Greg), The Girl Who Escaped: The Kara Robinson Story (which detailed the abduction of Kara Robinson at the hands of Richard Evonitz), Abducted By My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story (which detailed the kidnapping of Elizabeth Thomas), and The Girl Locked Upstairs: The Tanya Kach Story (which detailed the kidnapping of Tanya Nicole Kach).
In 2018, Smart published Where There's Hope: Healing, Moving Forward, and Never Giving Up with St. Martin's Press.
In 2019, Smart, and numerous other high-profile female kidnapping survivors including Kara Robinson Chamberlain, participated in the Lifetime documentary Smart Justice: The Jayme Closs Case, which touches on the 2018 kidnapping of Wisconsin teenager Jayme Closs, and the murders of her parents. Smart and the other women offer their perspectives on how Jayme can heal and recover.
In 2021, Smart competed on The Masked Dancer as "Moth". She was eliminated during the third episode of the series, placing eighth overall in the competition.
