In 1975, grassroots media activists Peter Chow, Danny Yung, Thomas Tam, and Christine Choy founded ACV under the name CCTV (Chinese Cable TV) in a loft then occupied by Tsui Hark in New York’s Chinatown. At a time when diverse cultural groups were claiming their voices and places in a predominantly white landscape, ACV’s founders saw the need to bring greater sociocultural awareness to the experiences and history of Asian Americans. Moving-image media had become the nation’s common language, its most pervasive source of imagery and ideas, and Asian Americans were barely registered on its screens. ACV’s founders wanted to address the problems Asian Americans faced in representation in the media and access to the means of media production and distribution.

ACV’s initial purpose was to produce Chinese language television programs, but a few years later—reflecting the growth of a collective Asian American identity and expanded needs for an Asian American media organization—the new mission became to produce and to exhibit films and video programs about the experience and culture of Asian and Asian American communities and to provide consultation and technical assistance for artists, cultural and media organizations.