Kintaro Yonekura was bounced from home to home, attending more than 20 elementary schools around the island during his youth. He had no regard for his own life or anyone else’s and ended up in a group detention home, a residential treatment center and was even sent to a ranch in Colorado for troubled boys.

"It was very lonely, very scary. I was angry all of the time," said Yonekura, now 34. "I was trying to survive in the (foster care) system. I was closed off and felt invisible."

Yonekura earned an associate degree in business at Heald College in 2009, a bachelor’s degree in social work from Hawaii Pacific University in 2011 and is currently at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, obtaining a master’s degree in social work. He has been clean and sober for four years and volunteers for Family Programs Hawaii, helping foster kids who have gone through similar situations. "These kids are not just numbers or case studies. They are real children with real feelings. I … understand what they are going through. I want to be a voice for them, a bridge or ally."

The nonprofit Family Programs Hawaii provides services to prevent children from entering foster care and support children and families involved in the foster care system, and assists youth moving out of foster care.

Yonekura is helping with an exhibit featuring artwork that offers a glimpse into the lives of local foster kids. The exhibit, featuring about 50 selections, was created by foster children ages 2 to 18 who were invited to participate in art workshops through the social service agency and encouraged to express themselves while improving self-awareness and connecting with their inner talents.

"Art therapy has been especially effective in the treatment of children with trauma disorders," said Linda Santos, president of Family Programs Hawaii. "With art, kids can share feelings too difficult to put into words."

Eight-year-old Keolanui Keola is among the featured artists in the "HeART of our Keiki" exhibit. Keolanui found a stable foster home early in his life but still deals with issues common among foster kids, according to his mother, Kau‘i Keola. She has fostered about 18 children during the past 12 years and adopted three of them, including Keolanui.

"They were all drug-exposed babies, born positive for crystal meth. There are lots of things that these children deal with," she said. "They tend to have behavioral problems."

Keolanui was placed in her temporary care when he was 3 days old and was adopted a couple of years later. "Even though he was raised in a nurturing environment, he is different from my three birth children. We expected that there would be problems and just take things one day at a time," Keola said.

The support group offered through Family Programs Hawaii helps both foster kids and parents, she said. The children have an opportunity to participate in activities and play with other youngsters in similar circumstances. Parents can discuss problems and what to expect, and learn about various resources.

Keolanui is sometimes sad that he has never been able to meet his biological mother, but says he is happy to be adopted. Art is one of the outlets that helps him focus.

"I like to draw, swim, play pogs, football and baseball," he said.

His painting titled "Wa Kahiko" was created using oil pastels. "This is what the aina looked like long ago. I want people to remember how beautiful it was before," he said.

Keolanui is encouraging his friends and family to visit the exhibit. "I want people to be happy when they look at it," he said.

The boy says he enjoys going to the monthly support group activities. "I like playing with the other foster kids. Some of them are adopted now, too. We get to draw whatever we want," he said.

Powerful statements accompany the children’s artwork.

From a 16-year-old: "What makes me weak, and I deal with it, makes me stronger. Every foster kid should know that."

Another, written by a 9-year-old: "I have been in foster care for one year. In that year I felt like my world had come to an end and that I had no meaning in my life, but with the help from people that worked with me, I have found out differently."

A 14-year-old wrote of a home where "a lot of dangerous bad stuff" happened and "no one knows it because it looks like a regular nice house."

"I’m a whole new person," a 17-year-old wrote. "This is the most difficult thing I’ve ever been through but I’m still here. I see myself as a survivor, striving to live and be happy. I’m almost there."

Even more poignant is the statement from a 9-year-old: "I am a foster kid and I am good … do not forget me."

Yonekura said he was "blown away" by work of the young artists and their comments. "As I read the descriptions, it was mind-boggling, so touching," he said. "I’m happy that these kids don’t have to be invisible anymore."

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On the Net:

» www.FamilyPrograms­Hawaii.org