Steven Wiltshire, artist
The previous post on engineering and autisim was oringinally written for a different blog a year ago when the IEEE article first came out.
What reminded me to post it here was a YouTube video of Steven Wiltshire, an architectural artist from the UK. He was diagnosed with autism at age 3, and has been drawing architechture since age 11, when he recreated the London skyline from memory after a helicopter ride.
In the video, this ability is demonstrated by taking him to Rome, flying him around for 45 minutes, and then giving him three days to recreate the skyline. All without additional reference, based solely on his recollection.
Here is the panorama that he drew over the three days.
There is a lot we have yet to learn about how the brain works.
