( 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 was n'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 . How one girl 's talent captured the world . To begin with , Carter-Johnson , who is a photographer herself , started sharing her daughter 's paintings on Facebook . The overwhelming response from her friends convinced her that she had n't been blinded by mother 's pride . Iris was special . Fast forward two years , and Iris ' paintings are in high demand , and are starting to be worth a lot of money . Due to the high level of demand for Iris ' art , her mother has set up a website to sell both originals and prints . It was a runaway success , quickly attracting over a million pageviews from more than 200 countries . `` All profits from the originals go into Iris 's savings account , '' says Carter-Johnson . `` We also sell cards and prints , and the profits from those go towards her speech therapy , occupational therapy , music and yoga . '' The money generated from sales of the prints has had profoundly beneficial effects on Iris ' day-to-day life . According to Carter-Johnson , systems like Gemiini speech therapy , for instance , have made an immeasurable difference to her ability to communicate . `` She has a tendency to drift off into her own world , if you let her , '' says Carter-Johnson . `` So by using her interests , we manage to engage her , and she changes into a giggly little girl dancing around the house . `` Her speech is n't at a stage yet where we can have conversations , so it 's hard to tell exactly how much she is understanding everything that has happened surrounding her art . `` We have shielded her from a lot of it . She has n't been to TV studios or done interviews . '' Extraordinary artworks . Many of Iris ' paintings show an astonishingly mature interpretation of natural scenes , including waterfalls , fields and skies . Her abstracts often depict particular moods or experiences after which they are titled , like Patience , Separation , and Immersion . All are united by a distinctively contemplative and often lightly melancholy atmosphere , as well as a mysterious sense of depth . This growing body of work has led to Iris being widely accepted as a savant . According to Professor Allan Snyder from the Centre for the Mind at the Australian National University , people like Iris are able to unlock the hidden wells of potential that lie in all of us , but are rarely accessed . `` I think it 's possible for a perfectly normal person to have access to these abilities , '' he says . `` [ But ] savants ca n't usually tell us how they do what they do . It just comes to them . '' How fonts can help you find the perfect date . The 'Catholic witchdoctors ' of Bolivia . How fonts could help you find the perfect date . How some whisky lovers are now making millions .
Five-year-old artist Iris Halmshaw has been compared to Monet . She has autism and is unable to speak , but paints for hours at a time . Demand for her paintings is rocketing around the world . Original artworks sell for thousands of dollars .