I first stumbled upon Stephen Wiltshire when I was doing a project on Savant Syndrome. His impeccable talent and unbelievable story truly resonated with me and so I thought he was definitely worth sharing with everyone. For those of you who don't know, Savant Syndrome is a very rare condition (there's only about 50 cases at any given time in history) in which a person has extraordinary areas of expertise such as in the arts, math, memory, etc. Many people immediately think of the movie "Rain Man"; however, that was a special case where the man had what experts call "Super Savant Skills" which means he memorized practically everything ever said to him, he could read two pages of text at a time, and he had a wealth of knowledge. Most Savants only specialize in one skill. For example, Stephen Wiltshire excels in drawing and painting. Other Savants may excel in playing the piano, or doing hard math problems easily. Many Savants suffer from autism. This means that many Savants have crazy talents, but may not be able to tie their own shoes or uphold a coversation. Stephen Wiltshire, for example, couldn't speak in complete sentences until he was 11 years old. There's not much known about Savant Syndrome such as what causes it, why its linked to Autism, whether its genetic or acquired, etc, but it's truly a fascinating thing. I have plenty of links and research on it if anyone is particularly interested in it.
Anyway, in Stephen Wiltshire's case, as I already mentioned, he does these amazing drawings and paintings of cities all from memory. He's actually been nicknamed "The Human Camera": What makes Stephen even more incredible is that he does these large cityscapes of whole cities by complete memory. In the video below he visits Rome for the first time, goes on a 40-45 minute helicopter ride around the city of Rome then sits down with a 5 ft roll of paper and proceeds to recreate the whole city of Rome with very few errors. It's incredible. As a result, Stephen has had shows in a number of prominate cities, created books, gone on tours, been on television shows, and much more because of his amazing talents. Below is the video as well as the link to his site if you want to see more of his work or learn more about him.
What makes Stephen even more incredible is that he does these large cityscapes of whole cities by complete memory. In the video below he visits Rome for the first time, goes on a 40-45 minute helicopter ride around the city of Rome then sits down with a 5 ft roll of paper and proceeds to recreate the whole city of Rome with very few errors. It's incredible. As a result, Stephen has had shows in a number of prominate cities, created books, gone on tours, been on television shows, and much more because of his amazing talents. Below is the video as well as the link to his site if you want to see more of his work or learn more about him.
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