KPBS’s The Finest podcast explores the people, art, and movements that are redefining culture in San Diego. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, or on kpbs.org/thefinest.

This episode tells the story of three friends growing up in San Diego’s Paradise Hills neighborhood who found purpose in graffiti art. What began as a creative path away from gang life eventually drew attention from law enforcement and changed the course of their lives in unexpected ways.

Isauro "Junior" Inocencio, Ron Recaido and Romali Licudan grew up as second-generation Filipino Americans in Southeast San Diego during the 1990s. As violence intensified in their community, they found inspiration in comics, hip-hop and murals. They formed a crew to create large-scale, permission-granted graffiti on a neighborhood wall. Their goal was to express themselves and offer something positive to those around them. But national policing efforts blurred the line between art and crime, and the group came under surveillance. Though only one of them was arrested, all three were affected by the fallout.

Years later, they return to the same wall — not to rewrite the past, but to reconnect, repaint and reflect on the power of claiming space through art.

"In graffiti, the basis of it is putting your name up. But a lot of people don't realize that graffiti can also be used — or it should be used — as a message board, to inspire," Romali said. "And it's also like, we can show the younger generation what they could do with graffiti and what they can do with their art."

We first learned about this story from our colleague KPBS reporter Kori Suzuki. Check out his original reporting here.