(June 1) -- An artist with a potentially deadly tangle of blood vessels in her brain is drawing on the hallucinations she suffers to inspire her work, ABC News reported.

Alison Silva, 33, was diagnosed with the brain lesion after an episode in 2006 that "pretty much felt like a carnival ride -- flashing lights, wavy lines, everything was blurry and I felt very clumsy," she recalled.

Doctors told Silva her condition could lead to fatal bleeding or seizures. The diagnosis threw her into depression at first. But then she decided to put her hallucinations into her art. She has declined surgery, saying that she doesn't want to cut the creative pipeline.

"I was scared the operation would change my art," Silva told ABC. "I wanted to paint every day after that. One detail, one emotion almost became like a diary. It put me on the edge and forced me to be even more creative."

Silva is featured in a new documentary on outsider art, work that doesn't fit in the mainstream. 'The Artists' Sanctuary' is to be submitted to film festivals this year.

Some researchers have said that brain injuries can unleash a person's creative juices by inhibiting the "thinking side" of the brain. For anecdotes of people who have experienced that phenomenon, read the full ABC News story. You can see more of Silva's artwork on her Web site.