During World War II, the Thai government began to view culture as a key dimension in the process of nation-building, and decided to promulgate two acts on the development of the national culture. Equally importance was the establishment of the National Culture Institution in 1942, as required by the National Culture Acts. In 1952, the Ministry of Culture was founded as Thailand suffered a temporary decline in cultural development. Both the National Culture Institution and the Ministry of Culture were dissolved in 1958 since the social climate at that time favored economic development as a top national priority and the economic planners failed to incorporate the cultural dimension into the National Development Plan.
In the late 1970s, several attempts were made on the part of the government to revitalize interests in cultural development. An adhoc committee was appointed to study the viability of creating a national culture organization. The effort eventually culminated in the promulgation of an act which called for the establishment of the Office of the National Culture Commission (ONCC). This Act is known as “The Office of the National Culture Commission Act B.E. 2522” (1979 A.D.). Consequently, the ONCC was constituted on March 24, 1979 according to this Act. In the beginning, the ONCC was situated at the National Stadium, since 1990, it was moved to Thiamruammit Road, which is the present office.