Beautiful Minds: Stephen Wiltshire

Wah...it is amazing, a photocopy mind?.....

He is Stephen Wiltshire, a special person. A person who suffered from autism, but is gifted with a beautiful minds, a strong power for visual memorization. Some said he is a human camera.....

Stephen has produced the mindblowing masterpiece, a panoramic memory drawing of Rome in June 2005. He was taken for a short helicopter ride where he viewed the old city from bird's eye view. Stephen was amazed by the Vatican and later on he viewed the Trevi Fountain, the Piazza Venezia and the ruins of ancient Rome. He spent just over two days completing his unique view of Rome on paper.

Wiltshire was diagnosed with autism at the age of three and was only able to communicate through his drawings, until he learned to speak when he was nine. His teachers at Queensmill School in London encouraged his speech by temporarily removing his pens and paper so that he had to ask for them back.....

Who is Stephen Wiltshire?



Stephen Wiltshire MBE, (born April 24, 1974) is an architectural artist who has been diagnosed with autism. Wiltshire was born in London, England, to West Indian parents.[1] He is known for his ability to draw a landscape after seeing it just once. He studied Fine Art at City & Guilds Art College. His work is popular all over the world, and is held in a number of important collections.

Wiltshire was mute and at the age of three when he was diagnosed as autistic. The same year, his father died in a motorcycle accident.[1][2] At the age of five, Stephen was sent to Queensmill School in London where he expressed interest in drawing. He began to communicate through his art. At the age of eight, he started drawing imaginary post-earthquake cityscapes and cars.

His teachers encouraged his drawing and with their aid Wiltshire learned to speak at the age of five.[2] When he was ten, Wiltshire drew a sequence of drawings of London landmarks, one for each letter, that he called a "London Alphabet".[3]

In 1987, Wiltshire was part of a BBC programme The Foolish Wise Ones.[3] A collection of his works, named Drawings, was published that year.[3] Wiltshire can look at a target once and then draw an accurate and detailed picture of it. He once drew the whole of central London after a helicopter trip above it.[4] He can also make imaginary scenes like St. Paul's Cathedral surrounded by flames. In 2003, there was a major retrospective in the Orleans House gallery in Twickenham, London.

Wiltshire's books include Drawings (1987), Cities (1989), Floating Cities (1991), and Stephen Wiltshire's American Dream (1993). His third book—Floating Cities (Michael Joseph, 1991)—was number one on the Sunday Times best-seller list.

Between 1995 and his graduation in 1998, Wiltshire attended the City and Guilds of London Art School[5] in Lambeth, South London.

(source: wikipedia)

You want to know more about him, his website http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/ and his detail biography can be found in http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/biography.aspx

Stephen Wiltshire in Shanghai


Stephen Wiltshire in Shanghai in Tokyo


What is Autism?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a range of complex neurodevelopment disorders, characterized by social impairments, communication difficulties, and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior. Autistic disorder, sometimes called autism or classical ASD, is the most severe form of ASD, while other conditions along the spectrum include a milder form known as Asperger syndrome, the rare condition called Rett syndrome, and childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (usually referred to as PDD-NOS). Although ASD varies significantly in character and severity, it occurs in all ethnic and socioeconomic groups and affects every age group. Experts estimate that three to six children out of every 1,000 will have ASD. Males are four times more likely to have ASD than females.

(source: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm)

Medically, Autism may be a biological disorder, but we have seen many people suffered from Autism, who are also gifted in another way. They excel in using their special gift given to them, one of them is Stephen Wiltshire. His beautiful mind make our world look beautiful, what a beautiful life.....

Finally, Stephen Wiltshire in New York.....



Related articles
1. Autism, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autism
2. The Stephen Wiltshire Gallery; http://www.stephenwiltshire.co.uk/
3. Scientists Link 'Sets' of Genetic Abnormalities to Autism Risk, http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/healthday/650465.html
4. Autism Research Institute, http://www.autism.com/
5. Autism in Malaysia, http://autism.my/
6. Brain, http://www.ninds.nih.gov