Aspirational artist

Each of Wang Mengxing's paintings at a ZHC Art Center exhibition in Beijing sold for several thousand yuan.

"By surrounding herself with more artists and sharing her ideas in her artwork, she could really blossom."

That prospect means more to Wang than the praise for her artistry. Despite a keen eagerness to learn, her formal education came to an end when she finished primary school. The secondary school was on the second floor.

It might as well have been on Mars.

But Wang was lucky. Stuart James, who co-founded the Wheels Plus Wings nonprofit agency, was visiting a nearby orphanage when he heard about the homebound girl who was teaching herself art. He quickly became convinced that she had the grit and the talent to overcome her physical challenges.

Wheels give kids chance to move forward

A self-propelled wheelchair gave her new independence, and a computer with Internet access gave her a huge window to the outside world.

"Mengxing by herself found courses so that she could study English," says Stuart. "She found access to different artists' work" and expanded her own style.

She has attracted the attention of another gallerist and a book publisher, James says, because her paintings are of such a high standard. "People may go to an auction and spend a few hundred yuan out of charity," he adds, "but they don't spend more than 10,000 yuan ($1,640) on a painting unless the talent is there."

"People are attracted to the work she's done, and also to the character and the person that Mengxing has become," Stuart says. "She's alive, positive and energetic. All of these things encourage people to believe that she can do the things that she wishes to do."

At the top of that list, the artist herself says, is the chance to study art at a private art school. "That is what the money I can earn from my paintings means to me."

"I am still a shy person," she says. "I don't like to talk. I like to be the audience, to listen. I have a lot to learn, but I know it's out there for me."