Young artist with autism expresses emotion with scissors and paper

Wil Kerner, 12, surrounded by prints made from photographs of construction-paper collages he's constructed. Wil, who has autism, has amazed his family and doctors with his expressive work, as most autistic people have trouble keying in on emotions and facial expressions of others.

Wil Kerner, 12, can't express his anger and grief in words due to his autism and has only limited social skills, but he creates emotion-filled collages of paper cutouts so impressive that a Seattle hospital is displaying them in their cafeteria throughout May. "It's full of symbolism. Once you spend time with it, it's actually quite sophisticated. You can appreciate it first on the cursory level, and then you can appreciate its more sophisticated qualities," said art director Peggy Weise. The Seattle Times