A system for illuminating panels such as advertising display panels is provided Such illuminated panels include at least one row of point light sources(l50) located substantially within the at least one illuminated frame member(l 10), a diffusion layer have a diffusion edge facing (170)the at least one row of point light sources, a backscattering layer(180) coupled to a back surface of the diffusion layer, and a dispersion layer coupled to a front surface of the diffusion layer The diffusion layer has an edge with a surface roughness configured to diffuse light emitted by the at least one row of point light sources In some embodiments, the light sources are dimn-ble Luxeon LEDs and can be activated by an infrared sensor It is also possible to use ultraviolet to blue light sources for the panel and to include a phosphor in the dispersion layer of the panel for converting the ultraviolet to blue light into visible light.
