"Art from Adversity" is the idiom that comes to mind. You can poke around and watch the principle in action, particularly in the art of cinema.

Many lesser directors often end up with "lightning in a bottle" -- aka a film that far exceeds their normal ability -- because the common stress of the experience on direction, on production, on the talent made for a synthesis better than sum of its parts.

It doesn't always work that way, but when it does it's very striking.