Islands of Genius

Artistic brilliance and a dazzling memory can sometimes accompany autism and other developmental disorders

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Darold A. Treffert was a psychiatrist. He met his first savant in 1962 and conducted research on savant syndrome at the Treffert Center in Fond du Lac, Wis. He was a consultant for the 1988 movie Rain Man and maintained a web page at www.savantsyndrome.com, hosted by the Wisconsin Medical Society.

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Scientific American Magazine Vol 286 Issue 6This article was published with the title “Islands of Genius” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 286 No. 6 ()
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican062002-qvGzUqkwr0YS6ieNUlGcQ

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