He was kicked out of three schools - Overnewton College, Niddrie Technical School and Niddrie High School - before he ended up leaving in year 10.

By his own admission, he was more interesting in skateboarding and graffiti than making his mark academically.

But he went back to school through the Council of Adult Education when he was 19 and became inspired to pursue his love of art and graffiti.

Mr Johnston, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia seven years ago, is now taking part in connected 2009, an exhibition run by State Trustees to celebrate the achievements of people with a disability or mental illness.

The 31-year-old has come full circle and says he is proud of how far he's moved on.

"In high school I was so bored with English and maths," he recalls.

"I enjoyed art but I still wasn't allowed to draw graffiti. They wouldn't let me do it. They said it wasn't art."

Mr Johnston says his work is based on graffiti but includes aspects of cubism and surrealism.

He likes to focus on suburban scapes and city buildings, and says creating art has helped ease his mental illness and shake off a drug problem. He was a heavy marijuana user from the ages of 14 to 19, but he's been clean from the drug for seven years.

"It [art] relaxes me. It makes me feel like I've achieved something. There's a lot of crap graffiti, but there's a lot of good graffiti as well."

Mr Johnston said the age-old debate over whether graffiti was real art came down to the individual.

There was lots of great work out there, he said, much of it sprawled across train stations and the like.

From July 30 to August 13, connected 2009 is at the Black Box Theatre in the Victorian Arts Centre.