Participating in the event are people with disabilities who together with other artists take part in music, acting and other performances, as well as in educational and recreational programmes.
The purpose of the event is to show the performers' artistic potential and its message is that persons with disabilities should have the same rights and obligations as other citizens.
The three-day event will feature more than 900 performers from Croatia and other countries, including 600 persons with disabilities.
Opening the event, Social Policy and Youth Minister Milanka Opacic said that in 2006 Croatia had only 76 assistants helping people with disabilities, while today it had 650 such assistants.
She also recalled that two laws had been passed improving the rights of persons with disabilities, one regulating the right to a sign language interpreter and the other regulating the right to a guide dog.
Also attending the opening of the festival were the festival's producer and president of the Zagreb Association of Persons with Physical Disabilities, Milan Ozegovic, the head of the European Commission Representation in Croatia, Branko Baricevic, and Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic.