How This Man's Traumatic Brain Injury Made Him a Master Painter

This former car salesman has the artistic skills that would take years to develop. But he became a master painter literally overnight.

Scott Mele, 42, says he was in three car accidents within a year, causing him to suffer a traumatic brain injury.

"When I realized that something was really wrong, I went to bed one night and woke up the next morning completely estranged to my life," Mele told Inside Edition.

That's when Mele got his urge to paint — despite never having picked up a paint brush.

"We went to Michael's to get some art supplies and I remember seeing the canvases and I was drawn to it. I had this huge hunger and want to express myself," he said.

What happened next for Mele, is extremely rare.

"I ended up painting every night for like nine months straight," he said. "I was like, I can't believe I can do this."

Mele developed a condition called acquired savant syndrome. It's when top-level skills suddenly emerge for a person after suffering a brain injury or disease. 

"We see the injury that releases the talent that didn't exist before. So that is the hallmark symptom that, some time after an injury, I have a skill or ability that I didn't have prior to that injury," explained Dr. Matt Doll, a director at the world's leading center for acquired savant syndrome research, Agnesian HealthCare.

Mele isn't the only person Inside Edition has met who had a newfound mastery of the arts. Derek Amato told Inside Edition he is now a piano prodigy after hitting his head on the bottom of a pool and suffering a severe concussion.

To see more of Amato's story, watch the video above.

"The beauty of it all is that even though I have all these dark things going on, I still have this beautiful thing is helping me get through it," Mele said.

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