The association Theater, visual arts and deaf culture — DLAN was founded on October 18, 2001 by a group of deaf people dedicated to promoting deaf culture, theater and visual arts in Croatia and internationally, providing greater accessibility to arts and cultural events for the deaf andhard of hearing community, and advocating the acceptance of the deaf as a cultural minority. DLAN encourages creativity and selfrespect in deaf people. Participating in deaf culture congresses and festivals, as well as various other festivals all over the world, has been of signi∫cant help in developing this movement, which is just beginning to gain ground in Croatia. We place special emphasis on starting a sign language theater, so far non-existent in Croatia. The feedback we have been getting from the audience, both deaf and hearing audience, is very positive and encouraging. The immediate impulse for the founding of the DLAN association was the premiere of the first Croatian sign language theater show, The Planet of Silence. Since then, DLAN has been known not only as a deaf theater group, but also as a venue in which deaf culture is explicitly and