This article presents the oration that received the Poona Psychiatric Association Oration Award of the Indian Association of Child and Adolescent Mental Health for its significant contributions to child and adolescent mental health. Malhotra focuses on the features of autism and the neuropsychological theories of this disorder. She concludes that, despite years of research, it remains extremely difficult to point to any one cause of autism, or the mechanisms that underlie it. The study of autism has provided a paradigm for research on normal development of social cognition, emotional cognition, information processing, theory of mind, etc. To that extent, autism can be considered as an experiment of nature, which is most awe inspiring, challenging, and painful.