As a young child, Stephen Wiltshire was a mute – he was diagnosed as autistic and was sent to a school for special needs children. There, he discovered a passion for drawing – first of animals, then London buses, then buildings and the city’s landmarks. Throughout his childhood, Stephen communicated through his drawings. Slowly, aided by his teachers, he learned to speak by the age of nine (his first word was “paper.”)

Stephen has a particularly striking talent: he can draw an accurate and detailed landscape of a city after seeing it just once! He drew a 10 meter (~33 ft) long panorama of Tokyo following a short helicopter ride.