A tragic disease is robbing Carol of her memory, but her visual world is still flourishing

Carol Spence was an accomplished graphics artist and doll maker when she was younger. Three years ago, without notice or explanation, she took exclusively to the canvas, creating art that little resembled her past work. The shift was not just a stylistic change but also a curious symptom for some with frontotemporal dementia, a little-known degenerative brain disease that afflicts between 50,000 and 250,000 Americans.