(CNN) -- At first glance, they could almost pass for masterpieces by Monet or Renoir. 

But these impressionist-style paintings -- which are changing hands for thousands of dollars -- were painted by a five-year-old girl who is unable to speak. 

Meet Iris Halmshaw, an autistic child from Leicestershire, UK, who has been producing these striking artworks since she was three. 

She has autism, a condition that has made her unable to communicate except through the medium of art. 

"From the first painting, she filled the paper with color and it wasn't random -- it was considered and thought out," says her mother, Arabella Carter-Johnson. 

"She was so excited and happy I knew that we had found a key into her world and a way of interacting with her." 

Autism changed everything 

The journey started when Iris was two. Carter-Johnson and her husband, Peter-Jon Halmshaw, realized that something was wrong: she had not picked up any words, and rarely made eye contact. 

"We researched it ourselves," her mother recalls, "but as parents, you are always hoping that there was some other explanation." 

Iris was officially diagnosed as a child with autism. According to Carter-Johnson, the doctor was "depressing" because he told them that very few therapies worked. 

Not to be deterred, the couple embarked on "long nights of research", which led them to the idea of art therapy. 

The little girl picked up painting techniques astonishingly quickly, and before long was spending much time at work on her canvases. 

Remarkably for a child of her age, her sessions involved about two hours of consistent concentration. 
When did her parents start to think something was wrong?
he journey started when Iris was two. Carter-Johnson and her husband, Peter-Jon Halmshaw, realized that something was wrong: she had not picked up any words, and rarely mad