Autistic Ballerina, 10, a YouTube Sensation

Clara Berg at her home.

TORONTO -- Her thin, delicate arms arced gracefully above her head, 10-year-old Clara Bergs points her ballet-slippered toes then lowers herself to one knee, grinning.
She’s watching the end of a taped performance of the ballet Coppélia, and as the video audience applauds, Clara mimics the ballerinas’ elegant movements and bows to her own adoring fans: stuffed animals set up along the couch.
“She really loves an audience,” says Clara’s mom, Lisa Anderson.
Until last week, that audience was whoever was gathered in Clara’s downtown Toronto home. Now, the autistic girl who dances despite physical and developmental disabilities has hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world.