The peaceful paintings of a nonverbal 5-year old girl

This article on CNN.com showcases the paintings of 5 year old Iris Halmshaw, a nonverbal autistic child from the UK.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/09/world/the-extraordinary-art-of-autistic-five-year-old-monet/

Therapeutically, the beauty of an art product is relatively unimportant.  If you can release stress by rolling clay into lumpy balls, represent your relationship with your brother in a series of scribbles, or connect with a peer through stick figure drawings, the process has been successful.  Too many people, kids included, have trouble even picking up a pencil because they are self-conscious about the way their art looks.  We would do well to let go of making it look "right" and instead on using art to help us feel right.

That said, beautiful art is unquestionable meaningful.  In this case, Iris' paintings seem to me to evoke the synesthetic world many people with autism describe.  As she is nonverbal, we can only look into these multilayered, richly textured paintings and try to imagine what she is perceiving, feeling and expressing based on how they make us feel.  Consider it an exercise in empathy.