Iris Halmshaw isn't your typical 5-year-old girl: although she has autism, she is also a savant, judging by her beautiful impressionist-style masterpieces that are now being compared to the works of Monet.
Living in Leicestershire, UK, with her parents, Iris started showing signs of autism when she was 2. According to Arabella Carter-Johnson, her mother, her husband, Peter John Halmshaw, and she noticed that little Iris wasn't talking. She also didn't like to make any eye contact.
Although she already had a gut feel of what Iris had upon their intensive research online, it wasn't only after her doctor confirmed it that she started accepting the truth.
But there's more: the doctor also bluntly told them that therapies don't normally work with autistic children. Undaunted by this bleak outlook, Iris's parents looked for helpful techniques until they learned about art therapy.
They started buying her paintbrushes and papers when she was 3. It didn't take too long before Iris, who also had a therapy cat named Thula, picked up the interest-and she did in a very stellar way.
She started playing with colors and dots thoughtfully, unlike other children her age who simply dabbled in the arts. Her mother further received confirmation on her daughter's amazing talent when she started receiving not only praises but also print requests after she uploaded Iris's work in a Facebook page.
Today, Iris is 5 years old and has sold many of her works, which were often described as emotional and deep, across 200 countries. Recently, her original works were bought for no less than £1,500 apiece. Aside from the originals, her parents also offer reprints.
All money that they receive from her artwork, which she painstakingly paints for at least 2 hours, goes to specific activities: those from the sale of her originals automatically go toward her savings account. Earnings from reprints are for private therapies and the organization her parents created for autistic children called Little Explorers Activity Club.