At a public rest room. On a rock. In a tortilla chip.

Ruth Kaiser can find smiley faces anywhere.

She encourages you to find them, too.

"Most of the time we don't pay attention to the life we have," said Kaiser, 50, of Orinda, Calif. "Stop and see the 'Smileys.' "

Kaiser, an artist and teacher, is the creator of The Spontaneous Smiley Project, a movement that stems from photos of everyday objects and scenes that appear to have "Smileys" — as Kaiser calls them — resembling that iconic yellow happy face. She describes the project as a conceptual art piece that lives on the Internet, with thousands of fans and followers on sites like Facebook, Flickr, YouTube and Twitter.

The time for a feel-good movement is now, said Kaiser, who spent her honeymoon last month on the Big Island.

"The ultimate purpose is to have more and more people find this ... spark of happiness that comes when you stumble upon them accidentally," Kaiser said by phone from Puako on the Big Island. ... "You suddenly have a moment of joy, and it's something that you can carry with you."

CHANGING LIVES

The Spontaneous Smiley Project is especially prominent on Facebook, where Kaiser started the Spontaneous Smiley group more than a year ago. Today it has nearly 2,500 members worldwide, including Turkey, Venezuela, Denmark and small countries in Africa, Kaiser said.

Members continuously post photos of Smileys; the group's page boasts nearly 2,000 images of happy faces hidden in a bruise, double chocolate gelato or flock of birds, among other very random things.

Kaiser welcomes others to join in and post photos, not just to be part of the "happy" movement, but to also unleash their creative sides, she said.

"It's an invitation for everybody to remember that anybody can be an artist ... and share their art," Kaiser said.

One of the best rewards for Kaiser has been hearing from people about how the project has changed their lives.

Kaiser recently heard from a woman who said she used to get irritated with her children when she would pick them up after school and they would take their time. Now the woman just sits in the school parking lot looking for Smileys.

"She's going to choose to find Smileys rather than get mad about waiting for her kids," Kaiser said. "I think that woman's story is the fundamental truth in life: It's always about choosing."

SMILEY PHILOSOPHY

Kaiser hopes Spontaneous Smiley generates enough buzz for her to find a sponsor to fund the project in schools nationwide, particularly in low-income areas. Kaiser's goal is to provide students with cameras, printers and photo paper so they can participate in the movement.

Kaiser wants to share the Spontaneous Smiley philosophy with aspiring artists, young and old.

It's all about being porous, not Teflon, Kaiser explained. Being porous to the world allows people to soak up all the beauty and happiness that's in everyday objects and our everyday activities, she said.

Kaiser, who soaks it all up all the time, doesn't just see the glass as half full — her glass runneth over.

"I feel extremely lucky that I was born with my glass overflowing," she said.

On one of the last days of Kaiser's honeymoon on the Big Island, she had a terrible migraine.

"The headache made for a difficult evening," Kaiser said. "The Smileys made the evening better."

Kaiser wasn't looking for Smileys that night, but when they showed up — on a slate walkway, on a martini glass, in a sunset — they cheered her up, she said.

"That's how having the idea of the Spontaneous Smiley Project held in the back of one's mind, changes one's perspective," Kaiser said.

"It's not so much about finding the Smileys 24/7, it's about being open to finding the joy 24/7."