Victor Ochoa is a widely recognized Chicano painter/muralist long considered to be one of the pioneers of San Diego's Chicano art movement. He is a co-founder of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, a multidisciplinary community-based arts center devoted to producing and preserving Indian, Mexican, and Chicano art and culture. He served as its director from 1970-73, and from 1988-90. Until recently, Ochoa had been a long time artist-in-residence there. Ochoa was a co-initiator of the Chicano Park community murals, an internationally acclaimed public art project. He was also co-founder of the "Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo arts collective (1984-93).

He incorporates in his visual satire the traditional Mexican lotería card format and draws his inspiration from the politically charged performance art work of the Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronterizo, a program that addressed the social tensions caused by the U.S.-Mexico border. According to Ochoa "art is part of the solution of issues in society and Chicano art has been the expression of our people's struggle."

1985-1988

Mario Torero is an artist and activist, most known over the last 45 years for an extensive body of socially conscious mural work produced in different cities throughout the United States and around the world.  

 As a co-founder he has contributed more than twenty standing murals at Chicano Park and three sculptures; other murals devoted to social awareness continue to appear in different parts of the County. Mario is also a founding and continuing member of Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, and was a co-founding board member and Arts Commissioner for the San Diego Commission of Arts and Culture.  Over the years, he has led several national and international artistic and cultural exchanges, all the while developing his unique artistic style, which he calls Cosmic Art. 

Salvador Barajas  was born in Nio, a small town in the province of Sinaloa, Mexico. Salvador is a unique breed of artist that blends his broad experience in technical art with his talent. His art speaks to the challenges that this community faces, it speaks to their roots and their ancestors as well as of the sacrifices they have made in search for a better life. He was the force that led the way for the restoration of the Chicano Park murals, giving them life again. But behind the artist’s’ eye, which is the essence that the community breathes, there is a man of intellectual strength that made the process of renovation come to fruition thanks to his highly technical, comprehensive restoration manual that he prepared and oversaw for the approval of Caltrans. His work was not only a thorough study of the history, technique, legal background, environmental impacts, tools and methods of the restoration process; the manual itself is a piece of art, aesthetically put together and a publication worthy of display.

"Compa Neto" was an educator, journalist, an exceptional organizer, a theoretician, internationalist, and unrepentant combatant for class struggle. He began his political development during the apex of the Chicano Power Period in the 1970s, while he was involved in the Brown Berets, MEChA, the Chicano Park Steering Committee, and the Committee on Chicano Rights. 

In 1987 Compa Neto created Somos Raza Magazine, in 1989 he led the re-establishment of the newspaper ¡La Verdad!; in 1991 he co-founded Guerrilleras/os de la Pluma, in 1992 Pueblo Unido, and in 1993 Las Calles y La Torcida. Neto wrote two editions of a book on political journalism: Chicano Journalism: Its History and its Use As A Weapon for Liberation. His passion for political writing led Ernesto to produce and/or co-author other books such as Chicano Studies & Liberation (1992), EZLN: Ejercito Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (1995), Somos Un Pueblo Sin Fronteras: A History of Unión del Barrio (1997), Razalogía: Diccionario y Glosario del Barrio (1999), and Jail the Oppressor, Free the Oppressed (2003). Compa Neto was also central to the creation of La Verdad Publications and the re-establishment of the Chicano Press Association (CPA – now known as the Raza Press and Media Association – RPMA).

He taught 8th grade history and English as a Second Language (ESL) to thousands of raza students that passed through his classroom, as well as serving as advisor to MEChA and the yearbook club.

Xochitl Flores was born a raised in California by parents who were from Zacatecas and El Salvador. She is an artist by training but did not feel like a "true artist" until she became immersed in the community created by Chicano Park. Flores was drawn to Chicano Park as a representation of her culture.  As an active community organizer in the San Diego/Logan area, she also has contributed to murals within the park.

A descendent of Tarasco native blood from Michoacán, German is a a self-taught artist whose his interest in painting began in his late teens and has continued developing. German’s paintings tell a story and arise from his passion for research and learning. The colors and materials, including stone, crystals, feathers, indigenous textiles and wood reflect the richness of native history.