[1] Drawing upon the Serbian experience, CANVAS seeks to educate pro-democracy activists around the world in what it regards as the universal principles for success in nonviolent struggle.

Established in Belgrade, CANVAS has worked with pro-democracy activists from more than 50 countries,[2] including Iran, Zimbabwe, Burma, Venezuela, Ukraine, Georgia, Palestine, Western Sahara, West Papua, Eritrea, Belarus, Azerbaijan and Tonga and, recently, Tunisia and Egypt.

[3] CANVAS' training and methodology has been successfully applied by groups in Georgia (2003), Ukraine (2004), Lebanon (2005), The Maldives (2008)?, Egypt (2011)?, Syria (2011)?

CANVAS' big mission is to explain to the world what a powerful tool nonviolent struggle is when it comes to achieving freedom, democracy and human rights.

[6] CANVAS says it brings a more rigorous, strategic model and skill-set to the process, as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of recent global protest history.

Espousing the principle of nonviolence, it used an array of tactics, from slogans and chants to rock concerts and Monty Python street humour, to galvanise the Serbian population against Milosevic.

[9] Duda Petrovic, who designed the symbol explained, "I never knew it would be so important […] I drew it not out of ideals, but because I was in love with the Otpor girl who asked me to do it.

It was influenced by nonviolent struggle leaders like Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, but also by pop-culture and humor such as the famous UK comedy series, "Monty Python`s Flying Circus".

[10] Otpor's unified message and diverse membership proved much more attractive to young activists than the deeply divided opposition parties of the time.

worked with the PORA ("It’s time") youth movement - a key player in Ukraine's Orange Revolution, which took place between November 2004 and January 2005.

It has five full-time and one half-time employees who are paid as contractors and operate a network of international trainers with experience in successful democratic movements.

[15] CANVAS teachings can be summarised in a few simple principles: Power in society is not fixed, and can shift very swiftly from one social group to another.

[2] CANVAS also views the creation of a strong brand with the potential to attract widespread support as key to a movement's success.

An important part of the curriculum is focused on how movements facing oppression can overcome fear and its adverse effects on people's morale and build enthusiasm.

It has also published a handbook manual for activists entitled "Non-Violent Struggle – 50 Crucial Points", which has been translated into Spanish, French, Serbian, Arabic and Persian.

[24] In January 2008, CANVAS started a joint graduate program at University of Belgrade's Faculty of Political Science named Strategies and Methods of Nonviolent Social Change.

[29] For the 2011–12 school year, CANVAS Executive Director Srdja Popović was a visiting scholar at Harriman Institute, within the SIPA.

The clenched fist symbol was flying high on white flags in 2003 in Georgia, when nonviolent protesters stormed the country's parliament after the election fraud in an action that led to the toppling of former autocratic President Eduard Shevardnadze.

[31] In the Maldives, CANVAS gave training to the local opposition group and helped them end Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's 30-year presidential rule in 2008.

CANVAS is a non-profit institution which relies solely on private funding; there is no charge for workshops and revolutionary know-how can be downloaded for free on the Internet.

[33][failed verification] CANVAS' biggest individual funder is its founding member and media mogul, Slobodan Djinovic.

[16] In 2011, the hacker collective Anonymous broke into the computer network of corporate intelligence agency Stratfor, and the subsequently leaked e-mails were published by WikiLeaks.

[37] The article garnered heavy criticism from the New York-Based culture-jammer Andy Bichlbaum[38] (who served with Popović on the board of Waging Nonviolence at the time).

[39] Gibson and Horn stood by their original critique,[40][41] pointing out that Popović served as a liaison between Stratfor and Muneer Satter, a prominent investment banker who worked at the time for Goldman Sachs,[citation needed] and that CANVAS funding was arranged by US Ambassador Michael McFaul.

Foreign Policy Magazine credited Srdja Popović, Executive director of CANVAS as one of their "Top 100 Global Thinkers" for his role in spreading the idea and educating activists about nonviolent social change.

[49] In February 2012, Srdja Popović was named to "The Smart List 2012" by Wired UK magazine as one of 50 people who will change the world.