'My Kid Could Paint That' - or could she?

by Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio

St. Paul, Minn. — Amir Bar-Lev's life changed the day he heard abstract paintings by a 4-year-old girl were selling for thousands of dollars.

He thought examining Marla Olmstead's story might make for a good documentary about how people decide the value of a piece of art, and whether the fact it's done by a child makes it more valuable.

But Bar-Lev soon found he'd got more than he bargained for.

Then the Olmsteads suddenly became the center of an international media backlash. Bar-Lev's film about what happened, called "My Kid Could Paint That," opens locally this weekend.

He told Minnesota Public Radio's Euan Kerr some people are enraptured by Marla's huge colorful abstracts.

Broadcast Dates

• All Things Considered, 10/18/2007, 5:50 p.m.