Anthony Schmidt is not just any 12-year old boy—Anthony can not only recognize any name and model of any car, but he can also tell you every inch of detail about that car. His mother explained that her son is able to do this because of his autism. While his autism does hinder his social skills, create social anxiety, and cause him to struggle through other activities, it allows Anthony to excel in this one area. “He has so many struggles, but there’s this one thing that he’s just so good at,” Anthony’s mother said.
Anthony’s mother noted that her son has been able to recognize names and models of cars since the age of 2. “The first thing he learned to speak was makes and models of cars. It was in his blood,” his mother said.
Anthony uses his skills to create miniature lifelike models of cars. So far, he’s built 527 cars. However, his miniature cars aren’t just for display—Anthony enjoys taking photos of his miniature cars and making them look real. “Autistic people are visual thinkers, so they see things in pictures,” said Anthony’s mother. His vision is for his pieces to come to life and he wants to share that vision with others, so he posts these photos to Instagram. Anthony has managed to gain an Instagram following of over 12,000 people.
Read about a 'Day in the Life' of Anthony Ryan Schmidt who shares his passion of model cars through his compelling forced perspective photography. @geekclubbooks #ActuallyAutistic #dayinthelife https://t.co/xiFvFxZ8Tp pic.twitter.com/RYue7s0FD7
— ZOOM Autism Magazine (@ZOOMAutism) November 14, 2020
Creating miniature model cars and making them come to life isn’t the only way Anthony has utilized his skills—his extensive car knowledge has even helped to solve a criminal investigation in New York. After investigators showed Anthony a grainy image of a vehicle that they were seeking to identify, Anthony was able to identify the make, model, and year of the car.
You can check out Anthony’s work on his Instagram page and order his new book, prints of his photos, T-shirts, and his calendar on his website.
