This paper proposes a novel pattern recognition approach based on the radial basis function (RBF) neural network for identifying insulation defects of high-voltage electrical apparatus arising from partial discharge (PD). Pattern recognition of PD is used for identifying defects causing the PD, such as internal discharge, external discharge, corona, etc. This information is vital for estimating the harmfulness of the discharge in the insulation. Since an insulation defect, such as one resulting from PD, would have a corresponding particular pattern, pattern recognition of PD is significant means to discriminate insulation conditions of high-voltage electrical apparatus. To verify the proposed approach, experiments were conducted to demonstrate the field-test PD pattern recognition of cast resin current transformer (CRCT) models. These tests used artificial defects created in order to produce the common PD activities of CRCTs by using feature vectors of field-test PD patterns. The significant features are extracted by using nonlinear principal component analysis (NLPCA) method. The experimental data are found to be in close agreement with the recognized data. The test results show that the proposed approach is efficient and reliable.