Islands of Genius with Darold A. Treffert, M.D.

Few people would or should want to learn to recite Pi to 22,514 decimal places, draw landmarks in breathtaking detail, or remember the contents of 12,000 books. Everyone is different. By refusing to gawp at these feats, preferring instead to focus on the person behind them, Dr Treffert sends out the message that it is the creative, imaginative processes at the root of such abilities that matter most. Only by considering the context of savants’ lives can we more fully and properly understand the gifts that they possess. Dr. Darold Treffert received his medical degree and psychiatric residency training at the University of Wisconsin Medical School. His first position was setting up a Children’s Unit at Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Winnebago, Wisconsin. That is where he met his first savant in 1962. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Department of Psychiatry for many years. He has written extensively in the professional literature on the rights of the mentally ill, stress management (under the title of Rustproofing People or Mellowing), autism and savant syndrome. In 2016 Agnesian HealthCare, St. Agnes Hospital, established the Treffert Center to preserve and expand Dr. Treffert’s work with savant syndrome and other forms of exceptional brain performance. To learn more about Provocative Enlightenment Radio, go to http://www.provocativeenlightenment.com