Comments on: Autistic Artist Stephen Wiltshire is Drawing New York from Memory

By: Slugsie

Slugsie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:57:48 +0000

Pretty sure I’ve seen him work before. An amazing talent, and an incredible insight into what our brains are capable of.

By: Lee J

Lee J — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:58:12 +0000

Nice to see people’s thoughts on this – as an Aspie myself having read alot of accounts from others it appears most of the neurotypical ppl out there seem to find us a little odd.

Personally i think we all have unusual abilities – im just wondering if as an Aspie its possible to learn tricks like Derren does that revolve around being able to read and understand people to predict what they think – which as autistic ppl know, is insanely hard because we dont always see those little tweaks and social cues!

By: steffjade

steffjade — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:52:09 +0000

Jeezuz I was impressed when Derren drew that complicated building after 10 seconds looking at it…but this takes the biscuit of genius :p

By: Atle L

Atle L — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:26:07 +0000

That is indeed amazing. I have read about him before, he did the same thing with Tokyo. That is talent combined with extreme brain capasity! I expect Derren to do the same thing with London some time soon:-)
Greetings from Norway
- Atle

By: Hannah Derbyshire

Hannah Derbyshire — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 09:07:57 +0000

That’s really amazing.
@Rob – that’s really interesting. I worked with a boy with Asperger’s syndrome in my gap year. He also had an amazing memory and affinity for maths. On my last day, I complemented on his t-shirt. He told me not to be silly as I’d seen it before – he was wearing it on my first day!

By: Mart Oosterveld

Mart Oosterveld — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:13:15 +0000

I love it. You’ll need incredible artistic ability and incredible memory to create an artwork like this one. It doesn’t seem quite finished though; I’d like to know what it looks like when it’s finished.

By: Lady Claire

Lady Claire — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 17:24:38 +0000

Wow, what an amazing gift he has.

It’s really spooky looking at that picture he drew of Manhattan cos only a few days ago I had a dream where I was in an office window looking at the Manhattan skyline and in my dream it looked almost exactly like the drawing Stephen did there. Very strange…..

LC x

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:22:32 +0000

I met him once when I was 6 and he was about 12. A lovely young man. I work with adults with autism and I think that one meeting was a turning point for me. I am also an amateur artist. It must be remembered that autism is a spectrum condition. It ranges from complete inability to communicate all the way to people with powerful intellects who have social difficulties. They say that a large percentage of Cambridge maths graduates may have aspergers. They (who are THEY?) also say that the cathedrals and palaces built in the middle ages would have required an eidetic memory and an almost savant-like ability. Hooray for artistic autists!

By: Frieda peppercorn

Frieda peppercorn — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:13:48 +0000

I saw a video of him in action on YouTube he is utterly amazing, and I just finished a book about a young boy with autism it really opens your eyes to the disorder, I do recomend it it was called a curious incident of a dog in the night.

By: Amie Byrne

Amie Byrne — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:41:22 +0000

He is just amazing. I had to do an artist profile on him for my art coursework last year and his work is incredible.