Man's traumatic brain injury endows him with impressive new talent: 'I can't believe I can do this'

A 42-year-old man developed incredible artistic skills overnight — and doctors think he has an incredibly rare condition that caused it.

Scott Mele told Inside Edition that he was in three car accidents within a year which caused a traumatic brain injury. But one night, when he went to bed, he woke up the next morning suddenly "completely estranged" from his life.

He had an overwhelming urge to paint.

"We went to Michaels 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.

Despite Mele having never picked up a paintbrush before, he seemed to know exactly what to do.

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

Mele developed an extremely rare condition called acquired savant syndrome. Savant syndrome is a condition where people with significant mental disabilities excel far above average in certain areas. Acquired savant syndrome is different because these savant skills emerge after a brain injury or disease — even if the person who was neurotypical before never exhibited any interest or knowledge in those areas or subjects.

"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.

Dr. Matt Doll told Inside Edition that there have only been 90 acquired savant syndrome cases reported worldwide.