George Widener

George Widener is an autistic savant with the ability to perform incredibly complex calendar calculations in mere seconds. 

He can almost instantly determine the day of the week for any date in history or far in the future and has incredibly detailed knowledge historical events.

After a troubled and lonely childhood, George was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome and he found a release for the constant swarm of numbers in his head through art.

George now shows his richly detailed calendar art in galleries around the world. 

Cutting edge Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging is helping neurologists see how George's brain processes information differently than neurotypical brains.

Give George Widener any date in history and he can, within seconds, tell you what day of the week it was.

At his home in Asheville, North Carolina, George works into the night drawing elaborate calendars.

Before bed he reads, not a novel but, printed sheets of population figures.

Numbers follow George wherever he goes, he finds comfort in them, he considers them his friends.

George says no one ever taught him to calculate calendars. In fact, he insists he's not calculating at all.

George's skill is phenomenal, but it comes at a cost.

He suffers from a form of autism, a brain disorder that leads to awkwardness and social isolation.

As a child, school was a place of fear and dread, but a chance encounter at his grandmother's house when he was seven changed his life.

He met another child who was fascinated with his grandmother's calendar.

Today, George is perhaps the world's greatest calendar calculator, but he is not unique.

He belongs to a select group of people known as savants.