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Akiane Kramarik is a young prodigy from Sandpoint, Idaho, who has been drawing and painting lifelike artwork since she was 4. Akiane (pronounced ah–KEE–ah–nah) says she first met God when she was 3. And now she's hoping to use her amazing gift to help feed needy children around the world.

When young Akiane's special gift was discovered, not much time passed before the humble 10–year–old was featured on Oprah, CNN, and other national media programs. Akiane began working in pastels when she was 5, and completed her first painting at 7. The self–portrait she painted sold for $10,000.

"It wasn't just art that was happening. Simultaneous with art was a spiritual awakening," says Akiane's mother, Forelli Kramarik. "It all began to happen when she started to share her dreams and visions."Prior to that time, Forelli had been raised as an unbeliever, in an atheistic family from Lithuania."And my husband was a former Catholic and did not share in the family beliefs. We didn't pray together, there was no discussion about God, and we didn't go to church. Then all of a sudden, Akiane was starting to talk about God."

Forelli's young daughter was homeschooled, she had no babysitters, and the family watched no television."We were with the kids all the time, and so these words from Akiane about God didn't come from the outside—we knew that. But there suddenly were intense conversations about God's love, His place [in our lives], and she would describe everything in detail."

In the beginning, Akiane drew pictures of family members and pets, but her interests eventually shifted to the creation of faces. She started "scribbling" more and more faces. She tries to recreate visions that she says God gives her in her dreams.

"I wake up after I have had many dreams. I wake up and I pray, and then I see visions and I explain all those to my mom, and I say, 'This is what I want to paint.' And my mom says, 'I'll give you a canvass so you can paint it.'"From her dreams Akiane began to compose what she calls the "Jesus" paintings, which took her more than 75 hours to complete. She has so far painted two oils of Jesus. She calls the first one "The Prince of Peace," and the second is titled "Forgive Them, Father."

"I always think about Jesus and talk about Him," she says. "I was looking for a [Jesus] model for a long, long time, and when I couldn't find anyone, one day I suggested to my family to pray all day for this model so God would send the right one." The day that they prayed, a very tall carpenter—yes, a carpenter—came to their door looking for work. When he showed up, Akiane nearly fainted. "I told my mother that that was him. I want him to be my model," she recalls.

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