Artists on the autism spectrum.  For a variety of reasons, art is a cathartic outlet. It’s a method to express emotions that are difficult to put into words, to stand up for a cause or a viewpoint, and for some people, it can even be a source of income. This can be crucial for those with autism spectrum disorders, some of whom struggle with communicating.

In Mighty contributor Kate Smith’s article, “How the Arts Gave Me a Voice Before I Knew I Have Asperger’s,” she wrote:

What I did know from an early age was that the arts were my everything — my way to express myself, my way to feel connected and my way to feel truly alive. … Art became my lens through which I saw the world, and it seemed to be the only way I could express myself in it.

Art may help people express complex feelings and ideas, but it can also provide neurotypical people a chance to observe the world through an autistic person’s perspective. For instance, autistic photographer Shauna Phoon uses her camera to document the variety of perspectives, races, and genders within the autism community.

Many artists provide a bridge of understanding across often drastically different perspectives using their craft, experience, and creativity. We asked our community for some of their favorite artists on the autism spectrum in order to recognize some of those outstanding people.

Stephen Wiltshire

Stephen, who was born in the UK, received his autism diagnosis in the late 1970s, when doctors were still working to define ASD. In the hopes that he would one day pick up the skills needed to speak, read, and write, Stephen’s parents enrolled him in a special school.

Stephen had never spoken before entering kindergarten, but one day he uttered “paper” and then “pen.” His teacher gave them to him, and he immediately started to illustrate scenes from a recent class field trip as if by divine providence.

Peter Howson

Peter completed his first piece at the age of six, a painting of a scenario of Christ’s crucifixion. Peter was born in London in 1958 and raised in Scotland. He started his artistic career early and pursued painting after finishing art school. His renown grew after the BBC produced a documentary on his life that contrasted his outstanding achievements with his autism. In the 1993 Bosnian Civil War, he was selected as the official British war artist. In 1998, he created a stamp.

After receiving an Asperger’s syndrome diagnosis in recent years, Peter developed into a fervent public supporter of autism awareness campaigns in Scotland and the rest of the UK. He said in a video interview that while “people understand disability—physical disability—the public has really taken a long, long time to grasp autism.”

Stephen had never spoken before entering kindergarten, but one day he uttered “paper” and then “pen.” His teacher gave them to him, and he immediately started to illustrate scenes from a recent class field trip as if by divine providence.  Since that time, he has become known as the “human camera” for his ability to capture intricately detailed, expansive cityscapes on paper. He is renowned for being able to fly in a helicopter above a big metropolis for twenty minutes before landing in his studio and drawing fully from memory in a highly realistic manner.

Henriett Seth F.

Henriett was born in Hungary in the 1980s, just as the nation was about to undergo a significant political transformation. Any child would have found it challenging during this period when finding basic necessities like food and water required looking for them or standing in long lines, but it was especially challenging for children with special needs. Since few people could afford cars, most people chose to walk or take public transportation. A youngster with ASD was unlikely to receive intervention due to the highly constrained medical care. An autistic savant artist, however, who produced renowned works of exquisite art and award-winning poetry, emerged from this shattered society.

Due to her striking resemblance to the character in the film Rain Man, she has been referred to as Rain Girl. Henriett has difficulty communicating and has trouble maintaining eye contact, but she has an IQ of 140, making her a savant with autism. Due to her difficulties, she was denied admission to the primary school. At the time, many kids in her predicament ended up in institutions.

She eventually overcome the obstacle in her schooling and  enrolled in college for a while. She focused on painting and produced award-winning pieces that have been displayed in several exhibitions. Henriett is a talented visual artist as well as a skilled poet, musician, and writer. Her book Closed Into Myself, a memoir of her life with autism, is perhaps the source of her greatest fame.

Nadia Chomyn

In 1967, Nadia was born in England. Her parents were aware that something unique from the start. She was an extremely calm infant who showed deficits in development. She was withdrawn and unresponsive, and autism was ultimately identified.  Something strange started happening when she was three years old. She began painting on the walls in her house when she was unable to feed or dress herself. It wasn’t unusual for a child to doodle on walls, but the artwork was remarkable.  Her art represents her as one the most well known artists on the autism spectrum.

Instead of the usual scribbles, circular heads with enormous eyes, and stick figures with limbs sticking out the sides, it was a series of exact, proportional, and accurate perspective drawings of horses and carousels, taken from her picture books.  Nadia drew on hundreds of pieces of paper between the ages of three and nine, including notebook pages, shopping receipts, and scraps of paper. Over 200 of her pieces are on display at the Bethlehem Museum of the Mind.

Walter Cronkite, a well-known newscaster in the globe at the time, was drawn to her talent despite her poor cerebral and physical development. He went to England to shoot a movie about Nadia. She was also the focus of a number of articles and books, including the second volume of the Classic Cases in Neuropsychology by psychiatrist Oliver Sacks.

After nine, she lost the ability to sketch, which seemed to have magically regressed. Her case has received extensive research and is mentioned in contemporary psychology literature. Nadia passed away in 2015 after leading a calm life in a nursing facility.

Gilles Tréhin

Gilles was born in France in 1972. He began sketching realistic three-dimensional works at the age of five, while other kids were still drawing stick people with skewed lines. He was echolalic as a child, had delayed speech, and avoided playing with other kids. Also very sensitive to loud noises, he was frightened by the sound of a whip cracking, thunder during downpours, and balloons popping. He was particularly fixated by airplanes, mountains, buildings, and phone numbers (his first spoken word was airplane).

His mother remarked, “I knew he was different from 15 months. But even before Gilles was born, Paul [Gilles’ father] and I both liked individuals with diverse viewpoints. Therefore, we always worked to recognize and capitalize on Gilles’ positive attributes.

It’s possible that Gilles’s parents’ support played a role in his unusual ability to visualize and create Urville, a fictional metropolis on an island off the Côte d’Azur. It all began when he started creating a city out of Legos to support his Lego airport. However, he quickly became aware of the physical limitations of using Legos and switched to drawing. Since then, he has been drawing for ten hours every day for more than twenty years.

The artwork of Gilles is realistic and properly perspectived. The only difference between Gilles’ drawings and those of Stephen Wiltshire is that all of Gilles’ buildings are creations of his imagination. His imagination has produced the biggest city in Europe, complete with a thorough history that dates back to the French Revolution. Now, Gilles has created a book called Urville about his hometown that features hundreds of his pictures.

According to National Geographic, a person’s ability to create works that endure throughout time is the genuine test of genius. While Michelangelo has been dubbed a genius and his creations continue to speak to us today, these five autistic artists’ works may or may not endure the test of time, but their exceptional talents would still astound anyone who had the opportunity to see them. Artists on the autism spectrum.

Staff writer Thalya Olmos is Elite Nannies Miami Founder and CEO.  Mrs. Olmos resides in Miami with her Family, her nine year old daughter Liah, her five year old dog Otis and her husband.  Thalya is a passionate community leader and mobilizer. An outspoken advocate with a people-centered approach, she is particularly interested in promoting programs and services that involve the prevention and reduction of disparity among at-risk or underserved populations. Her professional and volunteer experiences include public policy and advocacy activities, community mobilization, capacity building, program evaluation, and non-profit administration and board development. On her spare time she loves to read, watch foreign films and immerse herself in the world of art. 

Artists on the autism spectrum.