It might be the most colorful art gallery in Chinatown and none of the pieces are for sale. People have tried to buy things. One guy came in and said, "I'll take that and that and that ..." but the art is, well, priceless, and the kids want it back.

It started at a Board of Education meeting at King Intermediate in Kane'ohe. BOE member Janis Akuna noticed the exceptional student art displayed in the school cafeteria. Akuna talked to her husband, Andy Friedlander, owner of Marks Garage, the hip Chinatown art and theater space, who offered the school free use of a gallery on Pauahi street next to the Hawai'i Theatre. It's a choice spot, but it had been empty and Friedlander saw an opportunity to brighten the place up.

"It's so different from mom's fridge or the library wall," teacher Richard Pettit says. "It's a real gallery in Chinatown. We told the kids, 'That's where real artists show.' "

"We were only supposed to be here for that March 6 First Friday weekend," teacher Jean Noguchi says, "But they said, 'Oh, you're going to keep this up, aren't you?' "

Noguchi treks over the Pali on several weekdays to open the gallery in the evenings, and both teachers are there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Many of the students have come to see their pieces on display — catching the bus or begging Uncle or Grandma to give them a ride into town.

On First Fridays, the gallery has been full of art lovers who can't get over the power and sophistication of kid art. There is a wall of intricate black and white compositions. Colored leaves curl and swing in the window. Even the old metal stools the kids painted to be used as seating ended up too beautiful to be sat upon.

"At this age, you want them to totally enjoy art," Noguchi says. "The magic of it is now. This is almost the end for them. The real world is upon them."

They're not sure how long they will show in the gallery. The school year is coming to a close, and Noguchi says, "My seventh-graders want their stuff back." So the time to go see the gallery is now. Only don't look for the usual card beneath each painting that has the kid's name and age. None of the pieces are labeled.

"We wanted people to see the art without knowing the artist's gender or exact age or ethnicity," Pettit said. "Just be in wonderment that it's by a kid."