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For years, creativity has been celebrated as a possible strength in people with autism. From anecdotal reports of autistic savants to growing calls for strength-based education and employment programs, the idea that autism is linked to enhanced creativity has gained traction in research and popular media alike. But a new study published in the Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science challenges this assumption.
After controlling for cognitive ability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, the researchers found that autistic adults did not differ from nonautistic adults in their ability to generate novel ideas. Where differences in creative accomplishments and behaviors did appear, they were better explained by co-occurring ADHD than by autism itself.
This study was designed to address gaps in previous research on creativity in autism. While earlier studies had hinted at a possible connection, most were based on small samples or on measures of autistic traits in the general population rather than on clinically diagnosed individuals. Some had found that people with more autistic traits came up with more original ideas in lab-based tasks, while others reported no such link. But few had examined creativity in autistic adults directly, and none had investigated how other factors—especially ADHD, which frequently co-occurs with autism and has also been linked to creativity—might account for observed differences.
To provide a more complete picture, the researchers recruited 352 adults in the United Kingdom, half of whom reported having a clinical autism diagnosis. The groups were closely matched on age, sex, and general cognitive ability, ensuring that any differences in creativity would not be explained by these variables. The study used a mix of performance-based and self-report measures to capture different aspects of creativity, including the ability to generate ideas, actual accomplishments, everyday behaviors, personality traits, and self-beliefs about being creative.
Participants completed a well-established divergent thinking task, which asked them to list as many alternative uses for a brick as possible within two minutes. This task is commonly used in psychological research to assess how fluently and flexibly a person can come up with ideas and how original those ideas are. The researchers also measured real-world creativity using self-report tools, including a questionnaire on specific achievements across domains like art, music, and writing; a checklist of creative behaviors over the past year; and scales measuring creative personality and self-efficacy.
The results were clear: autistic and nonautistic participants performed similarly on the divergent thinking task. They came up with roughly the same number of ideas, showed similar flexibility in the kinds of ideas they produced, and scored similarly on originality. This finding runs counter to the idea that autism is associated with greater creative thinking in lab-based tasks.
However, autistic participants did report higher levels of real-world creativity. They indicated more creative accomplishments, such as producing artwork or writing stories, and more engagement in everyday creative behaviors compared to their nonautistic peers. But when the researchers took a closer look, they found something important: these differences disappeared when ADHD was factored in. In other words, the elevated creativity reported by autistic individuals could be explained by whether or not they also had ADHD.
The researchers used both categorical and dimensional approaches to examine this relationship. They ran statistical models that considered whether a participant had a clinical ADHD diagnosis and also looked at continuous measures of ADHD traits. In both types of analyses, ADHD—but not autism—was consistently associated with higher creative output, both in terms of reported accomplishments and behaviors. Autism alone did not predict enhanced creativity, and in some cases, it was even linked to slightly lower creative personality and self-efficacy scores when traits were measured continuously.
These findings carry significant implications for how creativity is understood and discussed in relation to autism. While it’s possible that some autistic individuals may show creativity in specific areas, this does not appear to be a general feature of autism itself. Instead, it may be more accurate to describe creativity as a strength linked to ADHD—a condition that often co-occurs with autism—rather than as an intrinsic trait of autism.
The researchers also highlighted some potential reasons why previous studies may have produced conflicting or inconclusive results. Many earlier studies did not account for general cognitive ability, which is known to influence creativity. Others may have overlooked the role of ADHD, which can boost creativity through traits like impulsivity, reward sensitivity, and flexible thinking. Because ADHD is underdiagnosed, especially in adults and in those who also have autism, it’s likely that some participants in earlier studies had undetected ADHD that skewed the results.
Although autistic participants reported more creative behaviors and achievements, they did not rate themselves as having higher creative self-efficacy—that is, they did not express stronger beliefs in their own creative abilities. This could suggest a disconnect between actual creative output and how autistic individuals perceive themselves. The authors speculated that this may reflect broader difficulties with self-assessment and self-esteem that are common in autism, pointing to the potential value of interventions that help neurodivergent individuals recognize and build confidence in their strengths.
The study also emphasizes the need for more nuanced and individualized approaches to supporting strengths in neurodivergent populations. It cautions against broadly applying the idea of “autistic creativity” in clinical or educational settings without strong evidence. If creative strengths are only present in autistic individuals who also have ADHD, then programs designed to support creativity in autism should consider this variability. One-size-fits-all strategies may not serve the needs of the entire autistic community and could even create unrealistic expectations.
Despite the study’s strengths—including a large, well-matched sample, multiple validated measures, and preregistered analyses—there are some limitations. The researchers relied on self-reported diagnoses and did not independently verify clinical status using gold-standard assessments. They also focused on verbal measures of creativity, which may not capture all forms of creative expression, especially in autistic individuals with limited language skills. Additionally, the sample did not include autistic individuals with intellectual disability, so the results may not generalize to that group.
Future research could explore whether different types of creativity emerge in different contexts, such as when autistic individuals work within areas of personal interest or expertise. It may also be helpful to use nonverbal creativity tasks or investigate creativity across developmental stages and cultural backgrounds. Examining the cognitive and motivational pathways that underlie creativity in ADHD could also shed light on why this group consistently shows elevated creative output.
The study, “Enhanced Creativity in Autism Is Due to Co-Occurring Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder,” was authored by Emily C. Taylor, Małgorzata A. Gocłowska, Mitchell J. Callan, and Lucy A. Livingston.
