An autostereoscopic display system and a method of displaying a scene in a stereoscopic form on a screen of the system include two or more reconfigurable holographic optical element (HOE) stacks in the screen. The reconfigurable HOEs may be configured to perform simple optical functions that are commonly associated with traditional optical devices, such as lenses, prisms and mirrors. However, the reconfigurable HOEs may also be configured to perform sophisticated optical manipulations, such as optimally diffusing light with respect to light intensity toward a predefined viewing region. Each reconfigurable HOE includes a hologram that is sandwiched between two electrode layers. The hologram is a holographic photopolymeric film that has been combined with liquid crystal. The hologram has an optical property that changes in response to an applied electrical field. The reconfigurable HOE stacks are utilized to optimally diffuse monochromatic images projected from an image generator to one or more observers, such that the observers can view the scenes displayed on the screen in a stereoscopic form. Each reconfigurable HOE stack includes three reconfigurable HOEs to sequentially diffuse the monochromatic images of the tristimulus colors. The number of reconfigurable HOE stacks included in the screen depends on the maximum number of observers that can be accommodated by the system. The system may include one or more imaging devices to detect the presence of observers and to determine their locations, so that only pertinent images are projected and diffused by the system.