An interactive display device employing a flat panel display (FPD) is disclosed. The interactive display device includes a housing, a flat panel display, a light diffusing layer, a visible light illumination system, and a non-visible light illumination system that is used for detecting objects adjacent to the FPD. Techniques are also described for providing uniform illumination of the FPD with visible light, when viewed from a plurality of viewing angles by a user, and for diffusing the visible illumination at a surface boundary of the FPD, such that a coherent image of an interior of the housing is at least partially obscured from view by the user. Non-visible light that has passed through the FPD is reflected from objects adjacent to the display, passes back through the FPD, and is detected within the housing.