Meet Our Artists
John Khai
Director
John Khai is an Artist and has lived in Mae Sot since 2007. John was able to study at a migrant school where he learned art. Art quickly became more than a hobby for him, and his passion for the field brought him to become a teacher with Kickstart Art for 7 years, before becoming the Director of the
program. His art work has been exhibited in Canada, Austria, Italy, Thailand and Myanmar.
Saw Kyaw Khai
Senior Art Teacher
Saw Kyaw Khai was born in the Karen state in Burma and moved to the Mae Ra refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border in 2007. Here he learned about drawing from an artist friend, and in 2012, after graduating 12th grade at the camp, Saw Kyaw moved to Mae Sot to work with the Karen Student Network Group to improve his drawing. While working with KSNG, he led art trainings in six refugee camps, and to students in the Karen state in Burma. In 2014, Saw Kyaw joined to Kick Start Art to give art class to migrant students in Mae Sot.
Ko Ah Lah
Art Teacher
Ko Ah La was born in the Kachin state of Myanmar. He graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Yangon in 1994. He then moved to Thailand in 1995 and lived in the Mae Lah refugee camp for 3 years. Ah Lah joined Kick Start Art in 2019 to fulfill his passion of teaching art in migrant schools along the Thailand and Myanmar border.