The Superhuman strand continues its fascinating insight into some of the world’s most extraordinary people.
Superhuman: Genius meets people across the world with incredible and rare gifts.
There’s the outstanding teenage artist, the accountant with the phenomenal memory, the fascinating child musician, the seven-year-old science whizzkid and the real-life Rain Man.
Thirteen-year-old Akiane paints works of art worth thousands of pounds and she started when she was just four years old.
She tells the film how a voice in her head, which she believes to be God, taught her how to start painting and a home video shows how, by the time she was just eight, she was painting detailed portraits on giant canvases.
The film shows Akiane’s amazing artwork, including portraits, landscapes and the natural world and she and her family show cameras around the luxury home which they have bought with the profits from her paintings, as she has become the main breadwinner in the house.
Brit Ben is a former accountant who has such an incredible memory that he gave up his career to concentrate on his talent. He is the UK Memory Champion and invests hours putting his brain to the test.
The programme follows him as he demonstrates his talent in the supermarket by remembering the barcodes of every item in his basket.
He also decides to try to break his own record for being the fastest person in the world able to memorise a pack of cards. He currently memorises them in 26 seconds – his first attempt to break the record fails – can he manage it the second time?
The film meets the man who was the inspiration for the hit film Rain Man, starring Dustin Hoffman as a man with a confounding mixture of disability and brilliance which left him with an incredible memory.
Kim from Salt Lake City has brain damage which has left him with the greatest memory in the world - able to remember 98% of everything he ever reads. He is seen as he meets people in the street and from their date of birth can tell them what day of the week they will retire.
The film follows him as he visits the world’s leading expert on savant syndrome, Dr Darold Treffert, who tells the film: “I keep thinking that pretty soon the memory full sign has to come up, like it does on a computer, but it doesn’t. He continues to absorb and not only absorb but also recall.”
Kim’s father, Fran, gives a moving account about caring for his son – who needs his help washing, dressing and cleaning his teeth. When he was growing up Kim was a recluse who rarely left the house and wouldn’t keep eye contact with anyone, but after Dustin Hoffman met him he told Fran he should be sharing Kim’s incredible talent with the world.
Since then, Fran has taken Kim on a tour to meet and interact with millions of people. The film follows the pair as they go to a university to meet an audience of 300 people who are eager to witness the genius of Kim Peek.
The parents of 10-year-old musical genius Ariel explain to the programme that they developed their son’s talent by ensuring he listened to classical music when he was in the womb.
He was raised in a house dominated by music and had his first piano bought for him before he was even born. By the age of five he had taught himself to play the piano and aged seven he was playing in concerts with an adult orchestra.
The film follows Ariel, from Israel, as he plays in a late night jazz club and jets to Italy to perform his jazz debut outside Israel.
And the film meets the eight-year-old boy studying chemistry at degree level. Ainan from Singapore took chemistry O-level when he was just seven after his parents discovered he had a gift for understanding the subject when he was only six.
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Ready to Watch Superhuman 2007, Season 2, Episode 2?