‘Just couldn’t stop’: Teen artist with autism shines in national competition

CHARLOTTE — Terrell Hampton loves to draw. The 13-year-old has been using art to express himself for nearly as long as he can remember.

“In the school books, I used to draw in them to recreate the little animations I saw,” he told Channel 9’s Elsa Gillis. “When I started, I just couldn’t stop.”

Now, he’s taken his talent from his desk to a larger stage as a quarter finalist in America’s Most Artistic Kid contest. Hampton has already won several rounds of the nationwide competition.

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“We’re just gonna see where it goes, and hopefully, we can go all the way with it,” Hampton’s mom, Mariesha Cummings, said.

Terrell has autism. His mom is now homeschooling him after she says he was bullied.

“Being autistic is just very different,” she said. “A lot of kids, especially kids, don’t understand, like, what’s normal to me is not normal to them.”

So Cummings says this competition has been a bright light, helping to build confidence for the seventh grader.

“It’s just phenomenal, the progress that he’s made from 5 to 13. He is, I think he’s a genius,” his mom said. “I’m just excited for him and excited that he can showcase his artwork.”

The art competition is presented by Bob Ross Inc. It’s also raising money for blood cancer research. The winner gets their artwork displayed in a museum, gets to appear on an episode of “The Joy of Painting” and a $20,000 prize.

The next round of voting closes Thursday. Click here to learn more about the competition.

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