- Meet Milosz Gasior, a pianist with autism who communicates through his music.

Despite challenges, he graduated as the first piano major from the Pinellas County Center for the Arts.

Today, Milosz shares his extraordinary talent through exceptional performances in and around the Tampa Bay area.

(upbeat piano music) - Milosz is a pianist.

He was diagnosed with autism at the age of two and a half.

(upbeat piano music) His diagnosis was moderate to severe autism.

(reflective piano music) So when Milosz was diagnosed, I was afraid.

But you know, my son was alive after all, and I wanted to do everything that I can to give him the best quality of life he could get, no matter his medical diagnosis.

(reflective piano music) And here, what did you do over here?

- [Milosz] The tree sap.

- Milosz has severe speech delay, and he didn't talk at all when he was little.

So at around the age of seven, in my search for connection, I guided him to an electric piano and I help him press the middle C key with his little finger, and he looked at me.

It was almost like he would say, "You know, Mom, I'm here.

I want to talk to you, just I don't know how."

(contemplative piano music) That was really something incredible because he didn't have eye contact.

Excellent!

And that was the beginning of our musical communication.

(dramatic orchestral music) The first real success was when Milosz was allowed to join the middle school jazz band.

He played there for two years, and it was time to transition to high school.

We chose Pinellas County Center for the Arts because it offers a piano major.

(mellow piano music) - I first learned about Milosz when I heard that there was going to be an autistic person coming to audition.

Immediately I was curious, and I just wanted to know more about him and what he could do and what his skill levels were as an eighth grader.

(mellow piano music) He really challenged me to think about how to teach in so many modalities at the same time.

Sometimes it was not just visual, sometimes it wasn't verbal, but it was also auditory as well as kinesthetic.

Like we had to get up and move because, like, if we tried to speak, it was always like him repeating the last two or three words that I said.

But if I said, "Let's get up and just do this," he would get up and then dance with me and shuffle, and say, "This is how you feel a waltz move."

As he did that, you know, he never made eye contact, but he would smile this huge smile.

And then when he sat down again, I said, "Can you now feel this, right?

Remember how you moved your feet?"

And then he would play it that way and it was just amazing.

- [Milosz] One check.

- [Bozena] Music is very mathematical.

You know, the patterns, the counting, one and two and three and four.

And I think that is a big part of Milosz's love for music.

- [Milosz] Ah, play.

(reflective piano music) - At HUG, which stands for Help Us Gather, we are a nonprofit based in Clearwater, Florida, and we are dedicated to promoting inclusion, and also improving the life of people with disabilities.

(reflective piano music) So HUG has an opportunity each year where they give an award called Mr. or Mrs. Inspirational to a friend that we really feel that inspires us.

And Milosz really captured that.

(reflective piano music) His talent put us in awe and we were just so amazed.

- As Mr. Inspirational, Milosz had an honor of performing at the Tampa International Airport.

When he performed there, Mark Schoenfeld, a Broadway creator and impresario, heard him play.

He encouraged me to write my story, and I have written a book about Milosz's life journey, "I Heard The Light."

(reflective piano music) (contemplative piano music) What Milosz has achieved wouldn't be possible without the village of people.

You know, sometimes we say it takes a village to raise a child.

It takes a bigger village to raise a child with special needs.

And we've been blessed with so many people.

♪ Over the rainbow ♪ ♪ Way up high ♪ - I'm very grateful to Milosz and his mom because I feel like they gave us a chance to sort of prove how we could come together and build this community so that we can actually grow as teachers and as people.

(reflective piano music) - Bozena, she is a super mom and I think it makes such a difference having such a strong advocate in your corner.

(crowd applauds) She has really moved mountains to allow Milosz to express himself and have these really amazing opportunities to showcase his talent.

(audience applauds) - For those of you who face challenges in life, I have this advice, seek out and boldly ask for help, never give up and never accept no as the first answer because eventually someone is going to take a chance on you, on your child, on your loved one.

I want to share my son's story because although he's not able to communicate verbally or function independently, he wakes up with a purpose of playing, of practicing, of preparing for possible next event on his calendar.

It is my hope that he's going to continue to play.

- Play.

- But most importantly, to perform for others.

- Perform for others.

(inspirational piano music) (reflective piano music) - [Dalia] To hear more, visit asdvirtuoso.org.