The piece was created using 3DSlicer (http://www.slicer.org/) and an anatomical cerebral and thalamic volume.
Both, resemblance of the shape of the thalamus and the cerebral cortex represented here in 3D and the importance of the thalamus as a gating station in conveying information to the cerebral cortex, inspires the thalamus to be seen as the brainunculus.