The themes they chose are largely album-cover art from alternative and nosebleed-metal bands. Their teacher Janet Kershaw said some 40 students contributed to the project.

"We were looking for sports, music or any other kind of positive images they had," she said at Friday night's unveiling.

"They were all very proud of what they did because they knew it was coming here."

Jeff Amos, who manages the centre and who bought all the supplies used by the students, said the idea was to allow the kids who use the centre a chance to express themselves by filling up the interior walls of the building.

The original idea was to paint the murals directly onto the walls, he said, but because the centre may move to a more permanent facility in the next year or two, the paintings were done in school and fastened to the walls so they can be moved if necessary. Other students now want their chance to do the same, he said.

"We're talking about doing this again next semester with another bunch of kids," he said.

Kershaw said the students learned about composition and teamwork during the exercise, as well as techniques needed to make larger works, such as using an overhead projector to make wall-sized templates of small illustrations.

"Most of them had never used acrylic (paints) before and they had never worked this large before," she said.

"We have some very talented kids in this school."