Superhuman Genius Documentary ITV1 and ITV2

Last night, Ainan, eight, appeared in a documentary on ITV1 in the UK, entitled "Superhuman Genius". He was one of five people featured, including the American savant, Kim Peek, the American child prodigy artist, Akiane, Ben Pridmore, the UK Memory Champion and Ariel Lanyi, an Israeli child prodigy pianist.

The show is being repeated tonight at 9 pm on ITV2, for those able to catch it, in the UK.

I haven't seen the show myself but I understand it showed Ainan at work on Chemistry at Singapore Polytechnic.

Filming the show was an enjoyable experience for Ainan and one that opened him up a bit, I feel. He is unlearning his essential shyness, year by year and experiences like this are a help.

For those able to see the show it just offers a glimpse of Ainan at work - there is a lot more to be told. It is, however, an introduction to him and his work.

So, do tune in to Superhuman Genius, ITV2, if you are in the UK this evening.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged eight years and seven months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, five years exactly, and Tiarnan, twenty-eight months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, wunderkind, wonderkind, genio, гений ребенок prodigy, genie, μεγαλοφυία θαύμα παιδιών, bambino, kind.

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Akiane Kramarik: a child prodigy artist?

Is Akiane Kramarik a child prodigy artist? For those who know of Akiane Kramarik – and that probably includes almost everyone who has ever searched for my page (because she has been around for a very long time and word tends to get around) – you would know that she has a reputation as a child prodigy artist. You may even have seen Akiane’s CNN interview with Glenn Beck. So, why do I ask this question, then?

Well, it is, as usual, simple. You see I have noted various debates about her on the internet. Some voices speak of her with awe, others speak of her in a knocking fashion – usually because she is religious and believes passionately in God (strange that, in the modern world, someone can be knocked for what they used to be praised for). A few, however, question whether she is a “genius” – they say that her style is not that of a “genius”. They seem to be arguing that she is not a child prodigy, because her work does not manifest what, to them, is “genius”.

The debate is, I feel, based on a misunderstanding of what Akiane is and what she is doing. She showed, from a very early age, a high degree of technical skill in the making of fine art paintings. There was a very high degree of precocity in these works, such that they appeared to have been made by the steady hand and eye of a much older, more experienced artist. It is this quality of work that leads to the description of her as a child prodigy. You see, a child prodigy is any child, under 11, or so, displaying an adult degree of skill, in a domain normally reserved for adults. By this criteria, Akiane (variously also known as Akiane Kramarik, Akaine, Aki Anna, Akiana, Akiane Anna, on the internet: no doubt there are other permutations, too), is definitely a child prodigy. She may well be a genius, too. She may well turn out to be an influential and capable artist who leads the world in a new style, one day – for then she would be known as a genius, too – but, right now, she is correctly described as a child prodigy artist – or a child art prodigy, depending on which way you look at it.

The fact is, her childhood works, while of primary school age, show an uncanny facility that can only be described as prodigious. She is of a lonely breed, child prodigy artists being one of the rarest kinds of prodigy (along with child prodigy scientists, like Ainan). Akiane is a competent artist, in technical terms, compared to artists of any age. That is what qualifies her as a child prodigy artist. She does not need to be a genius, also, to win that title. (Though she may turn out to be a genius, too – time will tell.) I think it is time the internet arguers accepted Akiane Kramarik for what she is: an artist – and a child prodigy.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, a scientific child prodigy, aged seven years and ten months, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, four years and three months, and Tiarnan, twenty months, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html I also write of gifted education, IQ, intelligence, College, University, Chemistry, Science, genetics, left-handedness, precocity, child prodigy, child genius, baby genius, adult genius, savant, gifted adults and gifted children in general. Thanks.)