Beautiful Minds
(2) The Einstein Effect - The Mysterious World Of The Savants
Matt Savage was diagnosed with autism at 4. At 6, he learned to play piano almost overnight. By 7 he was composing jazz — and that same year released his first CD of original compositions. Now dubbed the “Mozart of Jazz,” he plays with the maturity of a seasoned professional.
How can Matt possess such deep musical knowledge without ever being taught? Is there something hardwired in our brains — a musical blueprint we simply can’t access?
Stephen Wiltshire is drawing-savant and was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. He will fly over Rome for 45 minutes and then draw the panorama of Eternal City – from memory. Will he remember the exact number of windows of important buildings?
Brain researcher Prof. Michael Fitzgerald of Dublin believes there is a connection between extraordinary creativity and the neural disconnections found in autistic brains. Einstein, Newton, Mozart and Beethoven were so exceptionally gifted, he argues, because their brains weren’t wired conventionally — much like the brains of Matt Savage and Stephen Wiltshire.
At the University of Sydney, Prof. Allan Snyder is temporarily disabling parts of his subjects’ brains in an attempt to unlock greater creativity.
Where does creativity come from? How do humans invent entirely new things — languages, melodies, ideas? And how can savants perform feats they have never learned?
Stephen Wiltshire is drawing-savant and was diagnosed with autism when he was 3. He will fly over Rome for 45 minutes and then draw the panorama of Eternal City – from memory. Will he remember the exact number of windows of important buildings?
Brain researcher Prof. Michael Fitzgerald of Dublin believes there is a connection between extraordinary creativity and the neural disconnections found in autistic brains. Einstein, Newton, Mozart and Beethoven were so exceptionally gifted, he argues, because their brains weren’t wired conventionally — much like the brains of Matt Savage and Stephen Wiltshire.
At the University of Sydney, Prof. Allan Snyder is temporarily disabling parts of his subjects’ brains in an attempt to unlock greater creativity.
Where does creativity come from? How do humans invent entirely new things — languages, melodies, ideas? And how can savants perform feats they have never learned?
Facts
Shot in HDTV on original locations in Germany, France, USA, Australia, Italy, Ireland and the United Kingdom
Beautiful Minds was licenced to more than 50 countries around the world.
It was nominated for the German TV Prize (Deutscher Fernsehpreis), the Adolf- Grimme-Prize and for Prix Europa.
First aired:
21st February 2006, 19.00 pm on Arte, 22nd March 2006, 23.15 pm on ARD, 27th April 2006, 20.15 pm on 3 Sat, 23rd May 2006, 20.15 pm on Phoenix.
Credits
Written, directed and produced by: Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus
Director of Photography: Axel Petrovan
Video Editor: Jörg Wegner
Producer: Francesca D‘Amicis, Ralf Hoppe, Friederike Schmidt-Vogt
Line Producer: Svenja Mandel
Narration: Benjamin Völz
Commissioning Editors: Gerhard Widmer (Radio Bremen)
A colourFIELD production commissioned by Radio Bremen and ARTE
