Suffering from postnatal brain trauma, Dwight Mackintosh has intellectual disabilities and difficulty speaking. At the age of sixteen, he was hospitalized. In 1978, after a life spent in institutions, he was released and referred by his brother to the Creative Growth Art Center in Oakland, a center that uses artistic expression to reintegrate people with intellectual disabilities.

He then began to draw and paint compulsively, using black ink, watercolors, and felt-tip pens. Over twenty years, he produced an impressive number of drawings, paintings, prints, and ceramics. His works are characterized by numerous interwoven lines that form figures, often accompanied by a form of indecipherable writing. His early drawings depict groups of young boys, whom he calls Boysses, naked, with flushed cheeks, long hair, and erect penises. Gradually, he began using color, and the variety of subjects he depicted increased, including buildings, vehicles, musical instruments, and other human figures.