When her art teacher realizes that she left her assignment blank, Vashti is instructed to just "make a mark and see where it takes you."

Vashti is only able to make a small dot on her paper, but to her surprise, the teacher asks her to sign it and displays it in her office the next week.

Believing that she can do better than just that, she starts drawing multiple, more elaborate and colorful pieces centered around the dot motif, earning widespread attention and realizing that she is indeed an artist.

The next week during the school art show, Vashti encounters a young boy who believes he can not draw.

The Dot has been adapted into an animated short film on July 1, 2004, produced by Weston Woods Studios and FableVision.