Like a Skyline Is Etched in His Head

Today, The New York Times published an article about Stephen Wiltshire. CBS featured him this morning as well. I can't believe I have never heard of this guy before today, but I am glad I have now. Stephen is currently drawing a panorama of New York City from memory in a gallery at the Pratt Institute's Juliana Curran Terian Design Center.

Stephen is from London and is autistic. Mute until the age of 3, he spoke his first words when he was 5 -- asking for paper and a pen. He has drawn panoramas of eight major cities, usually after brief flyovers. The New York panorama will be his ninth and, he says, his last.



When Stephen was young, his parents sent him to a special school in the UK. Before long his teachers got him speaking and then they discovered that Stephen has a truly remarkable ability. He can look at a city or a building just for a brief moment and then recreate everything about that building or city right down to the number of floors it has and the number of windows. He has traveled all over the world creating these cityscape's and right now he is completing his 8th and what he says final one - New York City.


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Below is a clip of him recreating the New York cityscape live. A truly incredible talent.



Webcam chat at Ustream

His website is a little overwhelmed right now, but I'm sure it will calm down in a few days.