"George Mendoza started going blind at age 15 from a degenerative eye disease, losing his central vision and seeing objects that weren't there. He triumphed over his blindness by setting the world record in the mile for blind runners, and later competing in both the 1980 and 1984 Olympics for the Disabled. Now a full-time artist, Mendoza's collection of paintings, also titled Colors of the Wind, is a National Smithsonian Affiliates traveling exhibit"--