OBJECTIVES: It is not known the profile of the children or the economic and social impact of autism in Brazil. The support therapy to children with autism includes psychologist, speech therapist, and occupational therapy. Antipsychotics are being used in autism treatment. We aimed to know the profile of children with autism and the social and economic impact of the disease in their families. METHODS: Simple Internet survey conducted among Brazilian autism communities during October 2013. We performed descriptive statistics. All monetary values are in Brazilian reais (BRL). RESULTS: We obtained 48 responses. 70.8 % of autism patients were boys. The median age was 8 years and 54 % of the patients were between 6 and 10 years. 65 % of the diagnoses were made between 2 and 4 years of age. The median number of physicians visited to achieve diagnosis was 3, 56% of the children visited 1-3 doctors and 23 % had to visit more than 5 doctors. Risperidone was used by 48% of cases and main reported side effects were insomnia (10 %), agitation (47 %), anxiety (23 %), headache (7 %), and self-reported changes in eating habits (13 %). 28 % of patients reported some food allergy. To provide support therapy to children with autism 34 % of families spend between 500-1500 BRL; 1500 to 2500 (19 %), 2500-3500 (17 %) and 2% spend 3500-4500. In 13 % spending was less than 500 and in 15 % spent over 4500. In 53% of the families the expenditure with support therapy is higher than the median household income in Brazil (R$ 1,211.33). CONCLUSIONS: Our results were in agreement with literature considering gender, age at diagnosis, frequency of food allergy and use of antipsychotics. Support therapy for these children can be higher than the median household income in Brazil.