SAN DIEGO, CA.- Timken Museum of Art of San Diego and EnChroma, creators of glasses for color blindness, today announced the first Southern California collaboration to revolutionize the museum experience for color-blind visitors. When the Timken reopens, visitors who are red-green color blind will have free access to special EnChroma glasses to experience the Museum’s collection in vibrant color for the first time.

“The Timken is honored to partner with EnChroma as we take this important step—as the first art museum in the state of California—to reach a new audience previously denied the opportunity to fully experience great artworks in all of their beauty,” stated Megan Pogue, Executive Director of the Timken Museum of Art. “To assist those with color blindness, the EnChroma glasses are revolutionary, and we are so proud to be on the cutting edge of this exciting new and inclusive technology. We estimate over 10,000 color blind visitors per year could benefit from these glasses.”

An estimated 13 million people in the United States, and 350 million worldwide are impacted by color blindness. While those with normal color vision see more than one million shades of color, those with color vision deficiency only see an estimated 10 percent of hues and shades. As a result, colors can appear dull, indistinct and difficult to discern. Click here to see examples of how Old Master artworks from the Timken’s Collection currently appear to color vision deficient visitors.

“The mission of EnChroma is to enable those with color vision deficiencies access to more of life’s colorful experiences through our specially engineered eyewear,” said Erik Ritchie, Chief Executive Officer of EnChroma. “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Timken Museum of Art to make its extensive collection of artwork accessible to those with color blindness."

EnChroma’s patented lens technology is engineered with special optical filters that enable people with color blindness to see an expanded range of colors more vibrantly, clearly and distinctly. A recent study by the University of California, Davis, and France’s INSERM Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute published in the scholarly journal Current Biology, demonstrated the effectiveness of EnChroma glasses.

This partnership with EnChroma is just the beginning of a larger, more robust Accessibility Program that the Timken is developing for those with sensory needs.