In 2011, a 3-year-old girl named Iris Halmshaw from Leicestershire was diagnosed with autism. The child is unable to speak due to the neural development disorder but she can express feelings through her impressive painting skills.

Born Iris Grace Halmshaw, the toddler started to show affection for trees, water, wind, dancing on tiptoes and holding stuff with her left hand. However, Iris still resists in interacting with other people or even making eye contact.

Arabella Carter-Johnson, Iris' mum, revealed that before her little girl found out about the art of painting, she was easily upset. "When Iris was diagnosed with autism, the key was to find something she loved to do. I'd taken her to a playgroup but it had been disastrous," Arabella shared.

"My mum bought an easel and we got the paint out. Iris made one brush stroke and the paint dribbled down to the bottom of the page. She was furious and burst into tears. But I figured out the problem: it wasn't the paint, it was the fact she couldn't control it," Arabella further added.

The doting mum decided to put away the easel and just place the sheet of paper on a table for Iris to work on. "She seemed to know intuitively what to do," Arabella stated.

Painting became a part of Iris' therapy after her supportive parents persuaded her to do so. Iris can spend up to two hours of painting session, where she becomes calm, on her detailed masterpieces.

"Her autism has created a style of painting which I have never seen in a child of her age. She has an understanding of colours and how they interact with each other. She beams with excitement and joy when I get out the paints. It lifts her mood every time," Iris' mum revealed.

Arabella Carter-Johnson decided to share an image of her daughter's paintings on the social networking site Facebook. A client fascinated with Iris' painting contacted Arabella to purchase the child's work of art.

Afterwards, news about Iris' work started to spread on the Internet to the point that a web site has been set up to display the child's paintings. Iris' parents were shocked with the awesome response of the public with their daughter's art paintings.

"When she started doing art therapy we thought it was amazing but we're her parents so we think everything she does is amazing. But lots of other people started saying it was great. It went berserk from there," Peter-Jon Halmshaw, Iris' father, shared to the Leicester Mercury.

To this point, eight art paintings of Iris have already been sold with two costing over $2400. The paintings are listed on the family's web site with a price ranging from £38.00 (US$58) to £295.00 (US $450).

The Mercury reports that Arabella and Peter are now searching for a sponsor for the solo exhibition on Iris' paintings scheduled in November followed with an auction on Iris' original works. The total amount of money raised from Iris' paintings will be spent on her required therapy sessions scheduled three times a week.

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