The little three-year-old is Grace.
She is not imaginary.
She is real.

And, so are the thousands of boys and girls she represents.

Grace is from the hills of Eastern Tennessee, and to Mitchell Tolle, the artist who painted her, she is the essence of beauty and innocence that should be a part of every child's growing-up. But it isn't always. That is why he chose this somber child with her captivating gaze for an exclusive Dream Factory portrait.

As a child, Mitchell Tolle dreamed of being an artist. At forty-five he has become well-known and loved, mostly for his paintings of people. He has spent his life studying them, and he has taken them all into his heart. He knows their joys, their sadness, their triumphs, their failures. He knows their dreams. Above all he knows how important dreams are to all of us. That's why, when Mitchell learned about the work of The Dream Factory, he dedicated his book, Where Dreams Are Born, to the thousands of critically-ill children who have courage to dream and to The Dream Factory volunteers who create a moment of joy in lives otherwise filled with anxiety and pain.

To Mitchell Tolle, and to all of us,
Grace symbolizes those children - and their dreams