Their smiles are captured in time – as they serve time in Kansas prisons.

The Faces of Change exhibition by photographer Nick Vedros, now at the Salina Art Center is a collection of black and white portraits, taken of inmates that shine far beyond a mugshot.

“He has humanized his subjects,” said Bill North, Executive Director Salina Art Center.

“When you walk in to that exhibition you relate to them first, human to human. You sort of lose sight of the fact that they are inmates.”

North joined in on the KSAL Morning News with a look at the show that will run through Sunday, December 18th.

Vedros tells KSAL News that the inmates featured are all involved in a rehabilitation program known as Reaching Out from Within, that operates in Ellsworth, Lansing and Topeka correctional facilities as well as prisons in North Carolina.

“All of us are one bad decision away from being in the shoes  of those on wall,” North said. “If we can’t relate human to human, it is going to be awfully hard for humankind to understand its place in the world and beyond.”

Faces of Change is on display at the Salina Art Center from now until December 18, 2016. The Salina Art Center is located at 242 S. Santa Fe.

“It’s an incredibly powerful experience,” North said.