Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a visual-collaborative system enabling geographically distributed groups to engage in face-to-face, interactive collaborative video conferences. In one aspect, a visual-collaborative system (400) comprises a display screen, a camera system, and a projector. The display screen (402) has a first surface (410) and a second surface (416), and the camera system is positioned to capture images of objects through the display screen. The projector (404,602,702) is positioned to project images onto the first surface that can be observed by viewing the second surface. The wavelengths of light used to produce the projected images are different from with the wavelengths of light used to capture images.