When it first began, the Memory Project was open to high school art students at any level of experience, and there was therefore a wide variety in the appearance of the portraits. When those portraits were delivered, some of the children at the orphanage asked "Why isn't mine beautiful?" Out of fairness and respect for the children, it was therefore decided that all of the portraits would have to be equally high in quality, and high quality portraits are most consistently produced by advanced-level artists. (Typically this would be high school level 3 or above; see our image gallery for examples).
