Secondary school art teacher with sad failure to relate to difference

I was reading on the Scope site about SEN & Disability understanding for secondary school teachers, and I was reminded of something that happened many years ago now. An autistic young relative in my care (who is very good at art), was in an art class (Year 9) at a local mainstream secondary school. The teacher was teaching the technique of faithfully reproducing an image, such as a drawing or painting, by imposing a grid over it and then carefully reproducing the contents of each square of the grid onto the page, hopefully to create a faithful copy. My young relative loves all things miniature and tiny. He would probably be in the market for copying out the Jedi Code on the back of a postage stamp (well, OK, I exaggerate a bit, but you get the idea). So young relative was very interested and involved and he was inspired to strive to reproduce the whole image, in miniature, in just one square of the grid. Arguably, a far more challenging endeavor than the task set by the teacher. And what did he get for his efforts? A humiliating telling off in the classroom in front the other kids, later carried on in the corridor after the lesson bell. His interest and engagement in the task dismissed. In a few minutes flat, an insensitive teacher bent only on his own preconceived outcome (and potential class GCSE grades) destroyed his relationship with a gifted, sensitive child, who had a vision of his own. Isn't that what art is about? When I took the teacher to task about it the next day, he told me he was the 'kindest teacher in the school'. I asked him why didn't he just watch in awe? But then I am an early years teacher, and maybe we see things a bit differently. A very learned early childhood educator, Professor Tina Bruce, once wrote that, 'Learning is a dance, sometimes the child leads, and sometimes the adult'. I think that that long ago art teacher needed to practice his dancing skills, hone his understanding of and respect for difference, and explore the real nature of art and express it in his practice. A term or two teaching three year olds wouldn't have come amiss either. Amongst many other other things, they are the most uniquely creative, lateral thinkers on the planet. You can't give them a sterile task.