Precision. Exactness. Detail. Systemising.

Peter Myers, with Simon Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright, An Exact Mind: An Artist with Asperger Syndrome. Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2004.

The above image is titled LEAVES, FEATHERS + FISH, created with metallic ink pen, 28 June 1999, in York, by Peter Myers, an artist with autism. “Peter created this picture simply because he was interested in the skeletal patterns in leaves, feathers and fish” (p. 43). Over half this book is devoted to reproducing Myers’ art. Interspersed with the artworks are Myers’ biography and short explanations of the works.

Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright believe Myers’ art can teach scientists about the minds of people with autism spectrum conditions. Studying Myers’ art has allowed them to crystallise “the four psychological qualities that come though as being common to different individuals with AS” (p. 52): precision; exactness; detail; and systemising.*

They summarise the mindblindness/empathising, empathising-systematising, executive dysfunction, and weak central coherence psychological theories of autism, commenting on each theories’ ability to explain aspects of Myers’ art. They treat each of Myers’ artworks as a system, and conclude that the artworks show how the minds of people with autism spectrum conditions work precisely, with exactness and attention to detail, and without impaired planning skills, the “global whole … envisaged just as well as the local parts” (p. 73).

There are difficulties that can arise from strong systematisation and exactness, including conversational pedantry, an inability to respond adequately to questions or situations which have an inexact answer, and of course feeling as though one thinks differently to everyone else. Nevertheless, the detailed memory of the person with an autism spectrum condition, as well as their strong systematisation and exactness, can be a gift, as the authors state is evident in the work of Peter Myers.

* Published some time ago, this book uses the taxonomy, “Asperger Syndrome”, which now falls under the broader DSM-V category of "Autism Spectrum Disorder". Rather than returning to update this and related posts as the preferred nomenclature changes, I will let the historical phrasing remain.

Myers has also published the wonderful Artistic Autistic Colouring Book: Precision Colouring for the Creative Obsessive.

Some more of Myers' art: