Ezra Chan Yi may be the middle child in the family, but he has achieved several firsts.

He was the first among the Chan siblings to bring home a paycheck at age 10. The first to win an award at age 15. The first to gain national and international acclaim for his work.

Today, Ezra is a 26-year-old award-winning artist. Last month, he held his first solo exhibition: Twenty pieces of his work were selected to be displayed, of which eight were sold.

Ezra had his first solo exhibtion in March 2026.

Said his mother Emily Lee, 55: “The theme, Reimagined Realities, was so fitting. It spoke of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary, which is exactly what God has done in Ezra’s life.”

His has, indeed, been a journey of the ordinary to the extraordinary. When he was diagnosed with mild autism as a child, no one could have imagined what God would do in his life.  

The miracle birth

Emily was eight weeks pregnant with Ezra when she was told that his heartbeat could not be found.

Emily, pregnant with Ezra, with her daughter.

In the midst of the medical uncertainty, Emily prayed: “I told God, ‘I know You raised an army from a valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:1-14). Surely You can raise my child. Please breathe a breath of life into this child so that this child can live.

“Yet not my will, but Yours be done.’”

Two weeks later, Emily returned to the doctor for another checkup and they found Ezra’s heartbeat. He was born at 39 weeks – on the day of his father Amos’ birthday and his parents’ wedding anniversary.

Emily with baby Ezra.

At the time, God’s promise that He would make “all things beautiful in His time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) came to Emily’s mind. For years, she testified of God’s goodness to all who were willing to listen.

“My faith was silenced”

As Ezra grew, his parents began to notice things about him that were not the norm.

He did not speak much and had limited eye contact. He did not respond when called and did not call them “Daddy” or “Mummy”. Nor did he acknowledge when they pointed out things of interest to him.

Ezra was a quiet child who was always well-behaved.

“We thought he was just not interested or that he was just a boy of few words. We told ourselves we just had to wait it out.

“He was a good boy, a gentle child. He got along well with his older sister and didn’t throw tantrums. There was no Terrible Twos or Horrible Threes,” Emily told Salt&Light.

Instead, he liked to draw. He was almost never without a pencil in hand – he would either doodle or balance the pencil on any edge he could find.

Finally when Ezra was three years and eight months, the Chans decided to get him assessed because they felt “no peace” about the situation. After a series of tests, they were told that Ezra had mild autism.

Ezra’s diagnosis threw Emily off for awhile.

“I was very conscious of how people would look at me, ‘Emily, you have been seeing the goodness of God. What happened now?’ Those were the voices I heard in my mind.

“I prayed for the condition to be taken away. I was hoping for a miracle of instant healing so God’s name could be glorified. At the time, I was too anxious, too busy thinking that I needed to help God to be glorified, I forgot that He is God. He can help Himself; He doesn’t need me.

“So I struggled when the diagnosis came out. I felt I couldn’t go around telling people Ezra was a miracle because I felt that for the testimony to be beautiful, he must turn out to maybe be an engineer, a doctor, a lawyer. So I told God, ‘I cannot say that anymore. I am silent,” she recounted to Salt&Light.

But in that silence, God spoke, assuring Emily again that He would make all things beautiful in His time.

Added Emily: “My husband is a pillar in the family. He reminded us that different doesn’t mean that Ezra was less loved.”

Dual crisis

The diagnosis could not have come at a worse time. While all this was going on, the Chans’ youngest child Eleazar was in the hospital. He was only a week old and battling E coli meningitis. The bacterial infection causes inflammation of the membranes around the brain and spinal cord, and is often fatal. 

Ezra (right) with his older sister and baby brother.

For 55 days, Eleazar lay in the hospital, his future uncertain.

“In that dual crisis, the weight was too much. There was the possibility of raising two children with special needs.

“I told God, ‘Wow, You think too highly of me. I don’t think I can handle this,” said Emily.

As she cried out to God, He reminded her to hide under His wings (Psalm 91:4) because the battle belonged to Him (1 Samuel 17:47).

Despite scarring on both sides of his brain, Eleazar pulled through. Today, he is a healthy 22-year-old.

Good with his hands

As soon as Ezra could hold a pencil, his parents realised that he liked to draw.

“It was as if the pencil was simply an extension of his hand. Art was his language that words couldn’t express. It was how he made sense of the world,” said Emily.

Ezra doodling from a very young age.

“Whatever he saw, whatever is read in a book or watched on TV, he would try to draw. He would draw nature, buildings, transportation, cartoons he had watched, characters in the games he played.”

Ezra’s doodles became drawings of the world around him as he grew older.

By the age of about three, they realised that not only did Ezra have an interest in art, he had talent as well.

“He was very different from his other two siblings because you could see objects that he drew were symmetrical and the spatial dimensions were very accurate.

“He also had a remarkable memory and could capture intricate details with great precision.”

Ezra’s signature style features great detailing of objects in the art piece.

From pencils to acrylics to 3D pens, Ezra is adept at creating beautiful images in many mediums.

His artistic abilities caught the attention of his teachers. Even as his parents enrolled him in art classes, his school – Pathlight School – placed him in its Artist Development Programme (ADP). To this day, Ezra attends the Saturday art classes.

Ezra with his first art coach Ranae.

Ezra with Deputy Principal of Pathlight School Loy Sheau Mei. She was the one who spotted his talent and gave him multiple opportunities to flourish, entering him into NAFA courses and UOB competitions.

At age 10, he began attending art classes at Very Special Arts (VSA). He would go on to certificate courses at NAFA organised by ADP and VSA, earning multiple distinctions on the way.

“My son is quite good with his hands. His psychological testing report showed that his hand eye coordination is streets ahead of his peers.

Ezra’s rendition of the super trees at Marina Bay Sands in pencil.

“He specialises in different mediums. Besides using pencils and crayons to draw, as he grew older, he moved on to acrylic paint. Then he became quite good with the acrylic pen and the palette knife.

Ezra’s art with a 3D pen.

Acrylic work by Ezra.

“He even does digital art animation. He can do clay. And he loves using the 3D pen to do 3D models. To me, he’s quite amazing,” said his mother.

Beautiful in His time

When Ezra was 12, his art was singled out by the then MCYS and used on their Facebook profile page.

The art that was used on the Facebook profile page of the MCYS.

The next year, a Chinese newspaper featured him. Two years later at age 15, he won his first award – the UOB Painting of the Year award in the Emerging Artist Category for the Most Promising Artist of the Year. He remains the youngest to ever win this award.

Ezra receiving the 2015 Painting of the Year Most Promising Artist of the Year Award from the then Deputy Prime Minister Mr Teo Chee Hean. Photo courtesy of UOB.

Said Emily: “I think that was a breakthrough. It was the first time the world officially recognised the ‘voice’ Ezra had been using since he was a toddler.

“I asked the judge if Ezra won because he has special needs. But the judge looked at me and said, ‘It’s blind judging. We don’t know the condition of the artist behind the art. We judge the art, not the artist.’

“It was a moment when God gently reminded us that a diagnosis does not define a destiny, and that His plans for our children are always greater than our fears.”

Ezra with his art that was displayed at the Choa Chu Kang bus interchange.

Since then, Ezra has gone on to win several other awards both local and international, and he has had his works displayed in exhibitions in Singapore and overseas. He has been commissioned to do artwork for senior government officials as well.

In 2022 in celebration of National Day, UOB partnered Ezra to depict Singapore celebrating its 57^th birthday. His work was then projected onto UOB’s buildings for all to see.

The same thing happened last year when UOB celebrated its 90^th anniversary and Singapore its 60^th. Ezra’s art was among those selected to be beamed onto UOB Plaza 1, turning the building into the world’s tallest, brightest and longest projection canvas.

Ezra’s art beamed onto UOB Plaza 1.

“As we stood there watching his art illuminated on the façade, we were in absolute awe of God. It was a profound privilege for Ezra to be part of a milestone.

“We realised that when we offer back to God the gifts He has given our children, He can place them on a stage we could never have built ourselves. It was a moment of pure gratitude,” said Emily.

Gentle assurance

As she watched her son grow, one of Emily’s greatest concerns was for Ezra’s financial future, “especially life after us”.

“I wondered if his gift would ever be enough to sustain him. But God knew my heart and sent a messenger. My friend shared with me how her sister-in-law earned a living as an artist by painting trees for artist impressions of properties.”

To the family’s surprise, Ezra became the first of the three Chan children to be paid for his work. At 10, his art was printed on merchandise and sold by his school. Part of the proceeds of the sales were given to Ezra as royalty fees.

Ezra’s art was printed on merchandise and sold at Pathlight Mall. He was 10.

“It was a gentle, humorous rebuke from the Lord, reminding me that Ezra’s future is not dependent on worldly standards, but on the Father who has already written his story.”

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